Pyongyang, August 30 (KCNA) -- KCNA released a detailed report on the completion of the huge waterway tunnel of the Huichon Power Station in the DPRK.

It says:

The army and people of the DPRK completed waterway tunnel extending dozens of kilometers in the wake of building huge dams in the deep mountainous areas in the upper reaches of the River Jangja and the River Chongchon in just over 700 days.

The completion of the project provided a sure guarantee for finishing the construction of the power station ahead of schedule.

In March Juche 98(2009) leader Kim Jong Il visited the construction site and specified the orientation and ways for finishing the waterway tunnel project at an early date and saw to that revolutionary measures were taken. Later he visited the construction sites several times, instilling strength and courage into the builders.

The builders started the project from April Juche 98(2009). They worked the miracle of paving the Toyang Pass 1500 meters above the sea level, a project that had to be finished before the construction of the tunnel, in just 12 days.

When came to the excavation of main waterway tunnel, the soldiers of the Korean People's Army halved the total length of the tunnel from the original design out of bold initiative and increased the tunneling speed 6 times, 8 times at maximum.

Members of shock brigade teams of ministries, national institutions and provincial brigades launched an offensive in the same revolutionary soldier spirit as displayed by the soldiers. The Pyongyang city brigade set the course of the tunnel in a rational way, sparing six month period.

The brigades of North Phyongan Province and the Ministry of Construction and Building Materials Industry introduced new blowing-up method despite difficult conditions.

Thanks to the active drive waged by the builders defying water dripping from the ceiling and crumbling rocks, the digging of the whole section of huge waterway tunnel was finished in November last year.

The soldier builders finished huge follow-up projects such as coating the waterway tunnel as well as hundreds of meters of iron pipes and burying them and the project of a surge tank which requires high technique in a matter of just a few months.

The waterway project central command and brigades of ministries, national institutions and provinces dug dozens of meters of waterway tunnel everyday in the spirit of collectivism.

A great number of officials, working people and youth and students across the country as well as families of KPA officers rendered sincere material and moral help and conducted economic agitation activities inside pit faces, encouraging the builders.

By early July the project of sealing the tunnel was also completed. It took at least 800 days to complete the huge waterway tunnel.