Major water transfer project to start construction in China

BEIJING -- The construction of a project to channel water from China's Yangtze River to the Hanjiang River will start by the end of this month, the Ministry of Water Resources said on Friday.

With a total investment of 59.8 billion yuan (about $8.93 billion), the project is a supplement to the middle route of the country's South-to-North Water Diversion Project.

The new project is expected to enhance the water allocation capacity of the Hanjiang River Basin to further ensure water supply to the dry north, the ministry said.

The South-to-North Water Diversion Project transfers water from China's water-rich south to the arid north through the middle, eastern and western routes. The middle route, the most prominent one due to its role in feeding water to the nation's capital, begins at the Danjiangkou Reservoir in the Hanjiang River in central province of Hubei and runs northeastward to Beijing and Tianjin. It began supplying water in December 2014.

China has stepped up water conservancy construction this year, with 10,644 new projects valued at 414.4 billion yuan starting construction in the first five months of the year, Wei Shanzhong, vice minister of water resources, told a Friday press conference.

The investment in the country's water conservancy construction is expected to exceed 800 billion yuan this year, official data showed.