ZHENGZHOU: A resettlement project involving 330,000 people living in central China's Hubei and Henan provinces has started to make way for China's south-north water diversion project, according to resettlement authorities in Henan Sunday.

Sources with the resettlement headquarters in Henan said the provincial government has approved new settlement areas with convenient traffic conditions and good soil quality for relocated people.

Xichuan County, Henan, will see the resettlement of 162,000 people, the largest number in a single county, in 185 villages.

Resettlement in Henan is scheduled to be completed in 2011, according to the province's resettlement authorities.

The project is the country's second largest resettlement plan following a similar move to pave way for the Three Gorges Hydro-Power Project, the world's largest, the resettlement of which involved 370,000 people and lasted for 17 years.