The government of China's northeastern Jilin Province plans to rebuild the country's oldest large hydropower station this year, local authorities said Wednesday.

The Fengman Hydropower Station was China's first hydropower plant with an installed capacity above 250,000 kw, said Zhou Jianping, chief engineer with the China Hydropower Engineering Consulting Group Co..

Located in the middle reaches of the Songhuajiang River near Jilin City, the station was built in 1937.

Its aging dam was poorly constructed and was deteriorating, Zhou said.

The station has an installed capacity of 1 megawatt and a total water reserve of 11 billion cubic meters.

The reconstruction project would be undertaken by the State Grid Corporation of China and the provincial government. It was expected to cost more than 5 billion yuan (732 million U.S.dollars), Zhou said.

He gave neither the timetable of the project nor the new site of the hydropower station, but suggested it would be near the existing site.