Construction work has begun in Tianmen city, Hubei province, on a new, multi-purpose dam on the Hanjiang River, the Yangtze’s largest tributary. The Xinglong Dam is an important element of the central route of China’s massive south-to-north diversion plan to bring water from the Yangtze to the dry northern regions of the country.

Zhang Jiyao, chief of the Office for the South-to-North Water Diversion Project of the State Council, said the dam would cost Rmb3.05bn to build.

Xinglong Dam is designed mainly to help irrigation of farmland on both banks of the Hanjiang River as well as improve shipping conditions when the river is in the dry season. It also has power generation and flood control functions. A total of 1,240 residents in Hubei will have to be moved to make way for the dam.

The 1,532km-long Hanjiang River originates in Micang Mountain in northwest China’s Shaanxi province and flows in a southeasterly direction to join the Yangtze at Wuhan, Hubei province.