As a backbone project of the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, the construction progress of the Pinglu Canal has always attracted much attention. On May 1, the No. 2 cofferdam downstream of the Qingnian (Youth) Hub of the Pinglu Canal was officially breached, and river water slowly and in an orderly manner flowed into the Qingnian Hub ship lock, marking that the hub project has officially entered the stage of water-filled commissioning. It also means that the construction of the three major hubs of the Pinglu Canal—Madao, Qishi, and Qingnian—has comprehensively entered the critical sprint period, taking a solid step toward the navigation goal.

"In order to accelerate the opening of the shortest, most economical, and most convenient waterway transport corridor from Guangxi and the Southwest region to ASEAN, and to help build a new development pattern of domestic and international dual circulation, during the May Day holiday, 13,000 builders of the Pinglu Canal stayed at their posts and went all out to sprint toward the goal of trial navigation operation in September this year," said a relevant person in charge of the Pinglu Canal Group. As of now, more than 94% of the overall engineering volume of the Pinglu Canal has been completed, and the dream blueprint of "one river running through, Guangxi facing the sea" is accelerating from planning into reality.