OREANDA-NEWS. December 19, 2011. A 3.4-billion-yuan (534 million U.S. dollars) project to divert floodwater from the Huaihe River into the Yangtze River was launched in the city of Gaoyou in the eastern Jaingsu province on Friday

The spillway scheme is expected to help the area cope with its frequent floods, according to the Huaihe River Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources.

The 157.2-km-long spillway is designed to carry 12,000 cubic meters of water per second, which could drain 70 percent of a flood from the middle and upper reaches of the Huaihe River into the Yangtze, said the commission.

It will take three years and nine months to finish the project.

The construction work will include upgrading dams and water gates and strengthening the bank along the Huaihe, according to the commission.

The Huaihe River, one of the most flood-prone in China, originates from Henan province and runs 1,000 kilometers eastward between the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, cutting through Henan and east China's Anhui and Jiangsu provinces before entering the Yangtze River via Hongze Lake.