More than 70,000 residents in central China's Hubei Province have been relocated to make way for the ambitious south-north water diversion project (SNWD), local authorities said Monday.

The over 70,000 residents from Shiyan City, whose homes will be submerged after the project is completed, have settled in new communities in other parts of the province, said an official with the Hubei resettlement authorities.

The focus will now shift to the relocation of another 10,000 people, who will be moved to nearby highlands and mountains, said the official.

The massive SNWD project is designed to take water from China's largest river, the Yangtze, to feed the drought-prone areas in the north, including China's capital, Beijing.

Water will flow northward via three routes - an eastern route, a middle route, and a western route.

The middle route, which will be completed in 2014, involves the relocation of 330,000 people living in proximity to the Danjiangkou Reservoir, source of the middle route, in central China's Hubei and Henan province.

In September, Henan reported the resettlement of more than 60,000 residents.