Beijing: China has begun to resettle
330,000 people to make way for a massive project to divert
water from the wet south to the parched north, including
Beijing.
The South-North Water Diversion Project is designed to
take water from a section of China`s largest river, the
Yangtze, to satisfy demand in the north China`s drought-prone
mega cities - Beijing and Tianjin.
The project is the country`s largest mass migration
programme since the Three Gorges Dam project, under which some
1.5 million people have been relocated.
The first 499 villagers in central China`s Hubei
Province were yesterday moved out of the way of a canal from
the Yangtze River to Beijing, Xinhua news agency reported.
The USD 62 billion project will involve the relocation
of involve 330,000 residents - 180,000 in Hubei and 150,000 in
neighbouring Henan Province.
When completed, three routes will carry water from
southern, central and western China to the arid north. Water
is expected to flow from the Yangtze and its tributaries to
Beijing in 2014 along the central route.
Mayor Zeng said the affected people will receive
government subsidies for the next 20 years, in addition to
compensation for each household.
The project will feature a 1,890-kilometre eastern
canal and a 1,430-kilometre central section.
PTI
