The development of the Huaihe River valley is likely to require up to 10 trillion yuan ($1.61 trillion) in investment in the next decade or two, becoming an important driver of the Chinese economy, an expert said on Tuesday.

Zheng Xinli, vice-president of the government think tank China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said the area will become the third "golden waterway" for China after the Yangtze River and Pearl River, as well as a fourth center for economic growth alongside Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Zheng said a draft plan concerning the development of the Huaihe River Economic Belt was released on Tuesday, and will be submitted for approval to the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planning body.

Zheng, also a guest economist for China Daily, made the remarks at a forum in Huai'an, Jiangsu province, held by the event organizer Huatuo Forum to commemorate the late premier Zhou Enlai.

The economic belt consists of regions in Jiangsu, Shandong, Anhui, Henan and Hubei provinces, and occupies 280,000 square kilometers.

The area is home to 180 million people, giving it a population density that is four times greater than the country's on average.

Even so, frequent floods and the departure of talented young workers have caused the region to fall behind economically.

The administration of the Huaihe River has not been guided by a comprehensive plan in the past. Millions of residents in the region migrate for work every year.

Zheng's plan calls for the Huaihe River Economic Belt's development to primarily take place in three cities along the river - Xinyang in Henan, Bengbu in Anhui and Huai'an in Jiangsu.

"Large global cities such as London and Paris often lie along inland waterways, dozens of kilometers away from the ocean.

"The development of these three cities and other counties will lead to the establishment of a Huaihe River Delta area (similar to the Yangtze River Delta area), and a 'golden waterway' that will help lower the cost of transporting coal from Shanxi province to Shanghai to 70 percent below that on railways," Zheng said. He said private investors have expressed an interest in building downstream harbors capable of accommodating 300,000-ton-class vessels.

A better transportation network in the area will also connect mineral-rich regions such as Tongbai county, in Henan province, which has the world's second-largest soda deposits, to places such as Huainan, in Anhui province, which has a third of East China's coal reserves.

"There will be a world-class base for the saline-alkaline chemical industry and new materials," he said. "It will help China lessen its dependence on oil imports."

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