BEIJING,Aug.15 (Xinhuanet)--Top priority must be given to pollution control and the economical use of water resources in the ambitious project to divert water from southern to northern China, Premier Wen Jiabao said yesterday.

    "We must be meticulous in terms of organization, design and construction, and work hard to build a world-level first-class project," Wen told the first plenary meeting of the State Council's Committee for the Construction of the South-North Water-Diversion Project.

    Polluted water must be cleaned before being diverted from the south to the north, and drought-stricken areas should always prioritize saving water ahead of diverting water from other areas, said Wen, who is also the committee director.

    The whole project comprises three routes. Work began last year on the eastern and central routes and together they will be up to 1,800 kilometres in length and link Beijing and other northern industrial cities with the Yangtze River.

    The western route is now undergoing a pre-construction survey and it is expected to be ready by 2010.

    Wen said the relevant departments should more quickly draft plans and policies on financing, the migration of residents, water conservation, pollution control and water-resources protection for the project, with emphasis on emergency water supplies to Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei Province in North China.

    Work on the eastern section of the massive water-diversion project started at the end of last year and should be completed by 2007, one year earlier than originally scheduled.

    About 200,000 to 300,000 local residents will be relocated to make way for the central route, mainly in Central China's Hubei and Henan provinces, said officials with the Ministry of Water Resources.

    The first phase of construction of the project's eastern and central routes will cost 124 billion yuan (US$15 billion), Xinhua News Agency reported.

    Once the first phase is completed, the project will be able to divert about 13.4 billion cubic metres of water from the Yangtze to the north annually. Enditem(China Daily)