Some 60,886 residents in central China's Henan Province have been resettled to make way for the country's ambitious south-north water diversion project, the country's water diversion authority said Monday.

Residents in 57 villages in Xichuan County have moved to their new homes in 63 sites in 25 Henan counties, according to the South-to-North Water Diversion Office under the State Council, China's Cabinet.

The massive resettlement started in June this year, after a trial resettlement in 2009 when 11,000 people were relocated.

Another 86,100 people will be relocated in a second move sometime before the end of August 2011.

The south-to-north water transfer project aims to divert water from the Yangtze River to Beijing and other northern cities via three routes - an eastern route, a middle route and a western route.

About 330,000 people in central China's Hubei and Henan provinces will be relocated before the middle section of the route is completed in 2014.

The relocated were living on the banks of the Danjiangkou Reservoir, which forms the border between Hubei and Henan provinces.

(Xinhua News Agency September 21, 2010)