China starts building water project museum

Construction of a museum about a water diversion project started on Monday in central China's Hubei Province, local authorities said.

The South-North Water Diversion Project Museum, on the bank of Hanjiang River in the city of Shiyan, will cover about 20.6 hectares, according to sources with the city's publicity department.

The museum will highlight achievements of the water diversion project, resettlement efforts, as well as ecological and cultural heritage protection, the sources said.

The project, one of the country's largest infrastructure schemes, is designed to take water from China's longest river, the Yangtze, to drought-prone areas in the north, including Beijing. Water will flow northward via three routes -- eastern, middle and western.

Shiyan City serves as a core water source area on the middle route of the project.

The museum is expected to be built by the end of 2015. The south-north water diversion project is expected to be completed in 2050.