A partial view of the waterway in South Hwanghae Province.

Irrigation canals stretch in rows to socialist cooperative fields.

The waterway project, which is the largest in gravity-fed irrigation network, was completed in South Hwanghae Province in May last year.

Starting in January 2012, the project was divided into two stages. The first-stage task was completed in five years and the second one in a little over three years.

Well over a hundred kilometres of waterway was built through mountains and fields in Pongsan and Chongdan counties and Ryongmae Islet in South Hwanghae Province, as well as a large artificial lake. They have made it possible to supply enough irrigation water to tens of thousands of hectares of farmland and Ryongmaedo tideland without using much electric power and pumping equipment and ensure high and stable yields by preventing drought and flood damage, develop fish farming and provide people with pleasant cultural recreation environment.

Another waterway was built in North Phyongan Province from the Tongraegang reservoir to Honggondo tideland.

The province removed hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of huge earth and built well over a hundred of structures, thereby finishing well over a dozen-kilometre waterway project in a short period of time. As a result, a foundation has been provided to increase grain production by supplying enough irrigation water to Honggondo tideland and vast expanse of Sonchon County.

South Hamgyong Province built a 40-kilometre-long gravity-fed waterway in Kumya County to provide thousands of hectares of rice paddies and dry fields with enough water, and North Hamgyong Province completed the Orangchon Reservoir to irrigate water to farmland in Orang and Myonggan counties.

At present, the construction of gravity-fed waterway linking the Chongchon River with the Phyongnam irrigation system is propelled in South Phyongan Province to supply the water of the Chongchon River to Yoltusamcholli Plain as irrigation water, while North Hwanghae Province pushes ahead with a Hwangju Kindung waterway project to provide water to the Hwangju Kindung Plain.

Projects are underway to restore irrigation system and facilities, expand irrigation area and strengthen material and technical foundations of irrigation enterprises.

South Hwanghae Province spares no effort to make and install again the floodgate for the dam of Lake Yonbaek and rearrange waterway so as to improve water transit capacity and expand the abilities of irrigation facilities in waterway terminal areas.

North Phyongan Province accelerates the work to maintain major irrigation systems including the Paengma-Cholsan Waterway and pumping facilities.