China will spend £2.2bn, this is a lot of money, but it’s a requirement because of its growing population. China’s state council, its highest administrative authority, approved the Lanzhou project in August, last year. It’s a big investment and many people in China will have jobs for many years to come. The first results are expected beginning 2030. Nothing surprisingly, the project is also controversial. Some opinions pointed to the financial risk of building a new city in the middle of the desert. Others warned about the risk of not having water in appropriate quantity. The spokeswoman of a China Pacific Construction Group, Angie Wong, said in an interview: „Lanzhou’s environment is already really poor, it’s all desolate mountains which are extremely short of water“. The actual article in „Nature“ insists on the fact that moving mountains is a complicated and dangerous process. The scientists are anxious because, as they said, these types of projects have caused erosion, landslides and dust storms. They recommended to officials in China to do more research before proceeding with tearing down their mountains.
