Construction will start in October on a water diversion project to supply water to Beijing in case of a water shortage from the central part of north China's Hebei Province, a provincial official said in Shijiazhuang Monday.

The official with the Water Resources Department of the Hebei provincial government said the project involves a 225-km water diversion channel, which starts from Shijiazhuang City, capital of Hebei Province, and ends in Beijing.

Several engineering projects, including tunnels, will be launched later this year as part of the program.

The project is also known as the Shijiazhuang-Beijing section of the huge program to divert water from the Yangtze River to north China through the provinces of Henan and Hebei.

The project, which is expected to cost 12.6 billion yuan (US$1.53 billion), will be completed by the end of 2006, said the official.

The planned water diversion channel will enable water resources departments to divert water from four big reservoirs in the Taihang Mountain areas in Hebei to Beijing for use in the event of an acute water shortage.

To alleviate the water shortage in north China, China started a water diversion program late last year to divert water from the Yangtze River to Shandong Province, east China, and some regions in north China through the provinces of Shandong and Jiangsu.

(Xinhua News Agency September 8, 2003)