BEIJING, October 18 (RIA Novosti) - Chinese authorities have started resettling 330,000 people in central China in a project to divert water from its major rivers in the south to the country's north, official news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday.

People in Hubei and Henan provinces are being relocated from their homes near the Danjiangkou reservoir where a sluice will be built to divert water from the Yangtze River to thirsty north China regions, including the country's capital, Beijing, the agency said.

The $60 billion project, which was approved in 2002, will see billions of tons of water moving from China's central, western and southern areas to the country's parched north through pipes and man-made canals.

The project is the country's second largest resettlement plan following a similar move to pave way for the Three Gorges hydropower project, which resettled 1.3 million people and lasted 17 years.