Construction of a channel connecting two reservoirs along the eastern route of the south-to-north water diversion project began on Thursday.

The 108-kilometer waterway, to link Nansi and Dongping lakes, the two biggest freshwater lakes in Shandong Province, will carry water to the north and east of the Shandong Peninsula and the northern port city of Tianjin by pumping water from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Navigation between the two lakes would commence after the waterway was completed.

The waterway consisted of seven individual minor projects including dredging of Nansi Lake, widening and deepening the original canals and building of a few pumping stations, according to the project headquarters.

The channel, with a maximum water flow of 100 cubic meters per second, involved an estimated investment of 3.6 billion yuan (US$530 million) and was expected to be completed in three years.

China's south-to-north diversion project is designed to divert water from the water-rich south of the country, mainly from the Yangtze, up to the dry north.

The huge project consists of eastern, central and western routes. The first two routes are already under construction, while the western channel is still at the planning stage.

Construction of the eastern route began in December 2002. The route was expected to be ready for water diversion in 2013.

(Xinhua News Agency June 5, 2009)