A dam was successfully installed Sunday on the Huaihe River, China's third-longest, to make preparations for the construction of a water control project on this flood-prone waterway in East China's Anhui Province, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The first on the river, the damming was conducted at a section in the juncture between Huoqiu and Yingshang counties in Anhui Province.

It is part of the Linhuaigang Flood Control Project, which is expected to be completed by 2005 with a reservoir in the upper and middle reaches of the river.

The reservoir is designed to be able to store 8.56 billion cubic metres of water in flood seasons. Functioning together with other anti-flood mechanisms on the river, the project is designed to protect more than 666,000 hectares of farmland and 6 million local residents from the threat of floods in this region.

Qian Min, director of the Huaihe River Commission, was quoted as saying that a total of 1.2 million residents will be moved out the flood area in three years to make way for the river.

The 1,000-kilometre-long Huaihe River, flowing through Henan, Anhui, Shandong and Jiangsu provinces, is located between the Yangtze and Yellow rivers.

It is notorious for its frequent inundations with 300 disastrous floods recorded over the past five centuries, endangering the lives of local residents in the river valley.

During June 20 and July 22 this year, the river experienced the largest rainfall on record since the year 1954, causing large floods and considerable damage in Anhui, Jiangsu and Henan provinces.

According to local statistics, Anhui had suffered economic losses of 17.2 billion yuan (US$2.07 billion) by August 20, because of the flooding in Huaihe River.

The Linhuaigang Flood Control Project is one of the 19 projects that the country has carried out trying to manage the river, and also the largest water control project on the river so far.

China Daily news

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