With the rapid development of the construction industry,the relevant parties of the project construction have higher and higher requirements for the cost control in the early stage of the project,especially for inland waterway shipping projects dominated by government investment.The level of cost control not only affects the decision-making in the early stage of the project,but also determines whether the project can be implemented smoothly.Aiming at how to accurately control the cost in the early stage,taking the Pinglu Canal project as an example,this paper adopts the current regulation system of the cost preparation of water transport engineering,studies and discusses the technical characteristics of cost control in the feasibility study stage,the formulation of cost preparation plan,the calculation method of unit project and the cost control risk.It is concluded that the key points of accurate cost control in the early stage is to formulate unified regulations for the preparation of project cost,coordinate the cost system of different construction industries,organize the overall structure of project cost,study and judge the construction conditions and construction schemes,accurately calculate the engineering quantity and apply the quota,and analyze the investment differences in each stage.The research results can provide reference for cost control of comprehensive inland waterway engineering.