A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Sunday for a pair of tunnels that will traverse the Yellow River as part of a massive south-to-north water diversion project reaching as far as Beijing.

The two tunnels will be 4,250 meters long and have a diameter of seven meters. They will pass underneath the Yellow River to the west of Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of Henan Province, according to builders.

One of the tunnels is scheduled for completion in March 2009.

In 2002, the Chinese government approved the water diversion project, which aims to relieve severe water shortages in parched northern areas.

The project will bring water from the Yangtze River, China's longest river, along three routes to the east, west, and center of the country.

Construction has already begun on the eastern and central routes, with a total investment of 200 billion yuan (US$26 billion).

The more expensive central route carrying water from the Yangtze to Beijing will cost 137 billion yuan (about US$18 billion).

Its eastern route will divert water from the lower reaches of the Yellow River to north China's Tianjin Municipality, while the western route is still in the planning stages.

(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2007)