China had relocated 1.27 million people by the end of June to make way for the giant Three Gorges Dam Project, a government official said Saturday.

The relocation task was "almost complete" through 17 years, said Lu Chun, deputy head of the office of the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee under the State Council, or the Cabinet, at a conference in Chongqing.

The relocation involved 12 cities and county seats and 114 townships, Lu said.

Meanwhile, 1,632 industrial and mining enterprises were shut down or moved, he said.

The Three Gorges Project was launched in 1993 and it was designed to generate electricity and contain floods on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

With a total investment of about 180 billion yuan (26.36 billion U.S. dollars), the project is scheduled for completion in 2009 and is expected to generate 84.7 billion kwh of electricity annually.

(Xinhua News Agency September 13, 2009)