Beijing, Dec 27:Premier Zhu Rongji Friday gave the go-ahead for China's biggest engineering project to transfer water from the mighty Yangtze River to arid provinces in the north, the Xinhua news agency said. Construction of the 59-billion-dollar scheme will begin immediately. The South-North Water Transfer project, first proposed by Mao Zedong in 1952, is expected to take 50 years to complete.

It is described as the biggest project of its kind in the world. The huge undertaking will involve three south-to-north canals running 1,300 kilometres (806 miles) across the eastern, middle and western parts of China, linking four major rivers -- the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Huaihe River and Haihe River.
Zhu made the announcement at a ceremony held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Bureau Report