China has begun to resettle 330,000 people to make way for construction of a water transportation project that will divert water from the Yangtze River to Beijing, according to official media.

People from Henan and Hubei provinces are being moved out of the way for the central one of three planned routes that will carry water to arid northern China. Water is expected to flow from the Yangtze and its tributaries to Beijing in 2014 along the central route.

Those affected include residents living near the soon-to-be enlarged Danjiangkou reservoir, where a sluice is being built to divert water from the Yangtze and its tributaries.