The construction officially started on the projects along the main line of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project that will connect the route's southern Yellow River section with its Yangtze River section, Zhang Ye, deputy head of the South-to-North Water Diversion Office (SNWDO) under the State Council, said at the site of a project near the Tuanhe River of Nanyan, Henan Province on April 25.

This marks not only the initiation of the project connecting the middle route’s southern Yellow River section with its Yangtze River section, but also that all major engineering projects along the trunk line of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project have begun construction.

According to the construction schedule, the major engineering projects of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project’s first-phase middle route will be completed at the end of 2013, and water will be introduced into the entire route after the flood season in 2014.

Statistics from the SNWDO show that the cumulative investments in the eastern and first-phase middle routes reached 115 billion yuan by the end of March 2011, including 23 billion in central budget investments, 11 billion yuan in central budget funds, 11 billion yuan in south-to-north water diversion funds, 36 billion yuan in major national water project construction funds and 34 billion yuan in loans.