The Chinese government has decided to invest 50 million yuan (6.2 million US dollars) to protect cultural relics along the routes of the gigantic south-to-north water diversion project, the office in charge of the project said on Monday.

A total of 45 cultural relic sites will be protected along the eastern and middle routes, including seven in Beijing, six in northern Hebei Province, 11 in central Henan Province, four in central Hubei Province, seven in eastern Shandong Province and 10 in eastern Jiangsu Province, said Yuan Songling, an official from the office.

The office has formulated principles concerning investigation, implementation, examination, filing and result publication of cultural relic protection, Yuan said.

It will promulgate detailed provisions on the protection of cultural relics along the route, he said.

Work on the water diversion project officially began at the end of 2002, consisting of three south-to-north canals to divert water from the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in southern China to the northern part of the country.

Source: Xinhua