From the Himalayas to the Yangtze: 10 Infrastructure Projects to Watch Across China

From the Himalayas to the Yangtze: 10 Infrastructure Projects to Watch Across China

On the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo, construction has begun on a hydropower project expected to cost around RMB 1.2 trillion. The development will comprise five cascade hydropower stations in Xizang, where the river cuts through some of the most difficult terrain in China before flowing towards India as the Brahmaputra. Construction officially began in July 2025, and work was continuing in 2026 on a scheme whose scale places it in a different category from most individual infrastructure investments.

China already operates more than 165,000 km of railway, including over 50,000 km of high-speed rail, alongside vast motorway, power, water and port networks. Yet construction continues at a scale that would constitute a national infrastructure programme almost anywhere else.

Increasingly, the engineering lies in the difficult pieces: another crossing where several already exist, another navigation system beside one of the world’s largest dams, a railway through terrain where almost the entire alignment must be carried on bridges or driven through mountains, and transmission infrastructure connecting new generating regions thousands of kilometres from their principal markets.

China is still expanding its national infrastructure while simultaneously building the next layer of it.

Briefing

• Construction has begun on the RMB 1.2 trillion Lower Yarlung Zangbo hydropower development, comprising five cascade power stations in Xizang.
• The 1,018.6 km Ya’an-Nyingchi section of the Sichuan-Xizang Railway will have a bridge-and-tunnel ratio of 93.7%.
• New crossings include the 11.185 km underwater section of the Haitai Yangtze River Tunnel and the 2,180 metre main span of the Shiziyang Bridge.
• China began construction in 2026 on another major navigation system at Three Gorges while continuing two huge water-transfer programmes.
• The current infrastructure programme extends beyond transport into nuclear construction, offshore airport development and a 2,681 km ultra-high-voltage electricity corridor.

1. Lower Yarlung Zangbo Hydropower Project, Xizang

Construction of the Lower Yarlung Zangbo Hydropower Project began in July 2025 at Nyingchi in Xizang Autonomous Region.

The development comprises five cascade hydropower stations on the lower reaches of the river, with estimated investment of approximately RMB 1.2 trillion. China Yajiang Group was established to develop and operate the project.

The Yarlung Zangbo crosses the Tibetan Plateau before descending sharply through southeastern Xizang and eventually becoming the Brahmaputra downstream. The combination of altitude, relief, geology and river conditions places the development in terrain very different from China’s established hydropower regions farther east.

The project remained in active construction during 2026. Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing visited the site in April, when engineering construction, quality, safety and environmental protection were among the issues addressed.

The downstream river system is shared internationally, bringing an additional layer of scrutiny. India and Bangladesh have both followed development of the upper Brahmaputra system closely, making hydrology, environmental effects and the availability of information about the project relevant beyond China’s borders.

Five major hydropower stations are now beginning to take shape in one of the most difficult large-scale construction environments in the country.

2. Sichuan-Xizang Railway

The railway between Sichuan and Xizang demonstrates how little of the route can be treated as conventional railway construction.

The Ya’an-Nyingchi section extends for approximately 1,018.6 km from Ya’an in Sichuan through Kangding, Batang, Qamdo and Bomi to Nyingchi. Of that distance, approximately 841.7 km will run through 69 tunnels and 112.9 km across 104 bridges. Only around 64 km is classified as conventional roadbed, producing a bridge-and-tunnel ratio of 93.7%.

Twenty-four stations are planned along the section, while design speeds will vary between 120 and 200 km/h according to the terrain. Construction has to negotiate high altitude, steep river valleys, active geology and long sections where access for people, equipment and materials is itself a major logistical operation.

The supporting infrastructure illustrates the scale of that challenge. During 2026, authorities in Xizang continued road maintenance and improvement programmes specifically intended to keep construction access routes available for the railway. Procurement has also continued for railway systems, monitoring equipment and other works along the Ya’an-Nyingchi section.

Rather than achieving high speeds across relatively forgiving terrain, the project is primarily an exercise in creating a continuous railway through mountains that leave comparatively little space for railway formation at the surface.

3. Haitai Yangtze River Tunnel, Jiangsu

At the opposite side of the country, a 16.6 metre diameter tunnel boring machine is working beneath the Yangtze.

The Haitai Yangtze River Tunnel forms part of a new road connection between Nantong and Suzhou in Jiangsu Province. The complete crossing is approximately 39.07 km long, including an 11.185 km underwater tunnel section.

The shield-driven portion extends for approximately 9.315 km. Excavation is being undertaken by the Jianghai TBM, whose 16.6 metre diameter makes it one of the largest machines deployed on a Chinese road tunnel. By March 2026, one drive had advanced 4,658 metres.

The tunnel will carry six traffic lanes and descend to depths of around 75 metres. Beneath the river, the machine has to work through soft deposits including silt and fine sand while managing high groundwater pressure and maintaining control of a very large excavation face.

The crossing is expected to be completed in 2028, adding another fixed connection across the Yangtze in a region already served by an extensive network of bridges, expressways and railways.

4. Shiziyang Link, Guangdong

The Pearl River estuary already contains some of China’s most ambitious transport structures, including the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link. Another is under construction.

The Shiziyang Link extends for approximately 35 km and includes a double-deck suspension bridge whose principal span will reach 2,180 metres.

The bridge is designed to carry 16 traffic lanes across two decks. Its main towers rise to approximately 342 metres, while the anchorages supporting the suspension system have foundations around 130 metres in diameter.

Construction began in 2023 and is scheduled for completion in 2029. During 2026 the project moved further into upper-structure construction, with installation of the main and splay saddles completed and work progressing towards the catwalks and main suspension cables.

Construction is taking place within an estuary already crossed by major road and rail infrastructure and serving some of China’s busiest urban and industrial areas. The new link is another substantial addition to a transport system that has been accumulating fixed crossings for decades.

5. Three Gorges New Waterway Project, Hubei

More than two decades after the Three Gorges Dam entered operation, construction has started on another major piece of infrastructure alongside it.

Work began in June 2026 on the Three Gorges New Waterway Project, with planned investment of approximately RMB 77.2 billion.

The principal works include a new five-tier, dual-track ship lock north of the existing navigation facilities, together with improvements to channels and navigation infrastructure downstream.

The existing locks have helped transform freight movement along the Yangtze, but increasing vessel traffic has placed growing pressure on their capacity. The new project is intended to raise annual shipping capacity through the Three Gorges section to around 336 million tonnes.

Constructing another lock system beside an operating dam and navigation complex introduces constraints very different from building the original Three Gorges development. Existing shipping, power generation, reservoir management and navigation infrastructure must continue functioning while another major civil-engineering system is added alongside them.

6. Dalian Jinzhouwan International Airport, Liaoning

Off the coast of Dalian, roughly 20 square kilometres of new land has been created for an airport.

Dalian Jinzhouwan International Airport is being constructed on an artificial island covering approximately 20.1 square kilometres. Provincial authorities describe it as China’s first offshore artificial-island airport.

The current phase includes two runways, measuring approximately 3,600 metres and 3,400 metres, together with a terminal building of around 500,000 square metres. Initial design capacity is approximately 43 million passengers annually.

By late May 2026, the main reclamation works had been completed. Deep foundation treatment had reached approximately 58%, runway surcharge loading was complete and 84% of the pile foundations for the terminal and forecourt viaduct had been finished. Above-ground terminal construction was also under way.

With the reclamation largely complete, attention increasingly shifts below the visible surface. Settlement and foundation performance must be controlled across runways, taxiways, terminals and supporting infrastructure built where Jinzhou Bay previously stood.

7. Yangtze-to-Hanjiang Water Diversion Project

Some of China’s largest infrastructure projects are almost invisible from the surface.

The Yangtze-to-Hanjiang Water Diversion Project extends for approximately 194.7 km and forms part of the follow-up programme to the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. It is designed to transfer an annual average of around 3.9 billion cubic metres of water.

Much of that route requires substantial underground construction. In September 2026, the Jianghan Shennong hard-rock TBM began an 11.68 km tunnelling drive. The machine has an excavation diameter of 11.93 metres, is approximately 175 metres long and weighs around 3,550 tonnes.

Its route presents conditions including very hard rock, high ground stress, rockburst risk, high external water pressure and fault zones.

The project will connect the Yangtze with the Hanjiang River, increasing the capacity and flexibility of a water-transfer network that already extends across large parts of China. Much of the engineering consists of creating underground connections that allow existing river and water-supply systems to operate as a larger network.

8. Central Yunnan Water Diversion Project

Farther southwest, another water project is being driven through mountainous terrain on a much greater linear scale.

The Central Yunnan Water Diversion Project has a main conveyance route of approximately 664 km. It is intended to supply 34 receiving areas across six prefectures and cities and eventually serve around 11.12 million people.

The alignment crosses terrain that requires long tunnels, aqueducts and other major hydraulic structures to carry water from the Jinsha River towards central Yunnan.

One of the project’s major construction milestones came in September 2026 when the 25.313 km Haidong Tunnel achieved breakthrough after eight years of work. The tunnel passes through 11 fractured fault zones and one active fault, with approximately 60% of the alignment classified as Class V surrounding rock.

Those conditions brought difficult excavation, support and groundwater-control requirements over a construction period measured in years rather than months. The 664 km system will ultimately link a series of water sources and receiving areas across a large part of central Yunnan.

9. Zhangzhou Nuclear Power Project, Fujian

China’s current infrastructure programme also includes the serial construction of large nuclear power stations.

At Zhangzhou in Fujian Province, China National Nuclear Corporation is developing a complex planned around six Hualong One reactors. Units 1 and 2 have entered commercial operation, while Units 3 and 4 remain under construction.

In February 2026, the inner dome was installed on Unit 3, marking the transition from major civil construction towards the equipment-installation phase inside the reactor building.

With the main civil structures advancing, construction increasingly moves into the tightly sequenced installation of reactor components, pipework, electrical equipment and safety systems, where manufacturing quality and installation tolerances become as important as the scale of the concrete works.

CNNC says the first two phases of Zhangzhou have involved nearly 6,000 enterprises and more than 60,000 sets of equipment. The figures indicate the industrial network behind a programme in which the same reactor design is being constructed at multiple sites.

10. Xizang-Guangdong Ultra-High-Voltage Transmission Project

Construction of the Xizang section of a new ultra-high-voltage transmission system began in April 2026. The complete route will extend approximately 2,681 km through Xizang, Yunnan and Guangxi to Guangdong.

The project has an estimated investment of RMB 53.2 billion and a transmission capacity of 10 GW. It includes ±800 kV infrastructure linking the clean-energy resources of southeastern Xizang with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Within Xizang, two transmission sections totalling approximately 301.7 km will cross terrain ranging from around 1,900 metres to 4,800 metres above sea level. Converter stations are being constructed at the sending end, with corresponding receiving infrastructure in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Once fully operational, the system is designed to transmit around 43 billion kWh of electricity annually. The Xizang section is scheduled to establish transmission capacity in 2028, with full operation planned for 2029.

The transmission line belongs to the same emerging infrastructure system as the hydropower, solar and wind developments being built in western China. Generating capacity and transmission capacity increasingly have to be developed together when the largest sources of new electricity are thousands of kilometres from the country’s major coastal load centres.

Building the Next Layer

China’s infrastructure landscape in 2026 is different from the one that produced the first great expansion of expressways, high-speed railways, airports and power stations. That expansion continues in places such as Xizang, where railways, hydropower and transmission systems are still extending national networks through exceptionally difficult terrain.

Elsewhere, new construction is being inserted into systems already carrying enormous volumes of traffic, freight, water and electricity. Three Gorges is gaining another navigation system, the Pearl River estuary another major crossing and the Yangtze another tunnel. Water-transfer projects are connecting river systems across hundreds of kilometres, while new transmission lines link western generating regions with coastal demand.

China is still building more infrastructure. Increasingly, it is also confronting the engineering consequences of what has already been built: bottlenecks, difficult remaining gaps, long-distance connections and the need to add capacity without stopping the networks underneath.

Key Industry Questions

1. What is the Lower Yarlung Zangbo Hydropower Project? It is a five-station cascade hydropower development under construction on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo in Xizang. Estimated investment is approximately RMB 1.2 trillion.
2. How much of the Sichuan-Xizang Railway will be in tunnels or on bridges? On the 1,018.6 km Ya’an-Nyingchi section, approximately 841.7 km will be in tunnels and 112.9 km on bridges, producing a combined bridge-and-tunnel ratio of 93.7%.
3. How large is the Haitai Yangtze River Tunnel? The complete crossing is approximately 39.07 km long, including an 11.185 km underwater tunnel section. Its shield-driven section is being excavated using a 16.6 metre diameter TBM.
4. What is the main span of the Shiziyang Bridge? The double-deck suspension bridge is designed with a 2,180 metre main span and will carry 16 traffic lanes across two decks.
5. Why is China building another navigation project at Three Gorges? Traffic through the existing navigation system has increased to the point that additional capacity is required. The new project is designed to increase annual shipping capacity through the Three Gorges section to around 336 million tonnes.
6. Why is Dalian’s new airport being built offshore? The artificial island provides the large continuous area required for a major new airport without consuming the same amount of constrained urban land around Dalian. It also creates substantial reclamation, settlement and foundation-engineering requirements.
7. What is the Central Yunnan Water Diversion Project? It is a roughly 664 km water-transfer system intended to move water towards central Yunnan, eventually supplying 34 receiving areas across six prefectures and cities.
8. How many reactors are planned at Zhangzhou Nuclear Power Plant? Six Hualong One reactors are planned. Units 1 and 2 are operational, while Units 3 and 4 are under construction.
9. How long is the Xizang-Guangdong UHV transmission project? The system will extend approximately 2,681 km and is designed to transmit up to 10 GW from western China towards the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
10. Why is China still investing heavily in infrastructure despite already having extensive national networks? Current investment includes new capacity within heavily used transport corridors, connections into difficult terrain, water-transfer infrastructure, energy generation and long-distance transmission, as well as expansion and upgrading of existing networks.

Strategic Takeaways

1. China’s infrastructure programme now combines expansion into difficult terrain with additional capacity inside mature national transport, water and energy networks.
2. Tunnelling remains central to railway, highway and water construction, with current projects involving large-diameter TBMs, long mountain drives and exceptionally high bridge-and-tunnel ratios.
3. Water infrastructure increasingly includes large interconnected transfer systems linking rivers, reservoirs and areas of demand over hundreds of kilometres.
4. Electricity infrastructure is being developed alongside generation, particularly where new hydropower and renewable resources are far from coastal load centres.
5. Existing infrastructure is generating its own construction requirements, from additional navigation capacity at Three Gorges to new crossings in already heavily connected river and estuary corridors.

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