OREANDA-NEWS. January 11, 2013.  Anhui province will pour up to 80 billion yuan (USD 13 billion) into water conservancy projects over the next five years, local authorities said at a work conference Thursday.

The fund is primarily intended for harnessing the Yangtze River, Huaihe River and Xin'an River, building large and medium reservoirs including the one situated at Xiahu Moutain in Qianshan county, and making more areas irrigated, said Ji Bing, head of the Department of Water Conservancy of Anhui Province.

In addition, the province will re-distribute water resources among regions during the following years by winding up the project for diverting water from the Huaihe River to its north and a water control project at Linhuaigang, kicking off the Yangtze River- Huaihe River water transfer project and making progress in diverting water from the Huaihe River to Fuyang and Bozhou.

A tentative program for diverting water from the Yangtze River, the third longest waterway in the world, to the Huaihe River has been mapped out and will be filed for approval this year, according to the official.

Hefei, the capital of Anhui province, will carry out water diversion projects mainly at Longhekou and Sima Mountain to join in increasing water supply, Xu Chunlei, head of the municipal water conservancy bureau disclosed at the meeting.

The 950 million-yuan Longhekou project will allow water to flow from the Wanfo Lake, the province's first 5A tourist spot located in Shucheng of Lu'an, into the city through 55-km-long pipelines.