China's Vice-Premier Li Keqiang (C) addresses a forum on the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in Nanyang, Central China's Henan province, Oct 9, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's Vice-Premier Li Keqiang has stressed the importance of quality management, proper resettlement of people, environmental protection and preventing corruption in building the country's South-to-North Water Diversion Project.

North China had long suffered from water shortages and the project is a strategic infrastructure goal that would benefit the Chinese people, Li told high-ranking government officials at a forum held Saturday in Nanyang, a city in Central China's Henan province.

Building the project concerns China's national economic and social development and the long-term development of the Chinese nation, said Li, also director of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project Commission (SNWDPC) of the State Council.

Further, the enormous complexity of the South-to North Water Diversion Project called for excellent coordination and organization in pushing forward the construction, he said.

Li also stressed the importance of quality management in the project, saying quality control was the core task for building the project into a world-class one.

Also, resettlement of people is a key issue in carrying forward the project, and efforts needed to be made to make sure that people are properly resettled and they have the capabilities to increase their wealth, he said.

China's Vice-Premier Li Keqiang (R) shakes hands with construction workers for the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in Nanyang, Central China's Henan province, Oct 9, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]

Additionally, Li said, during the process of building the project, more attention should be given to protecting water resources and preventing water pollution.

He also called for strengthened supervision of the funding used for the project to prevent corruption and to punish those violating the law.

The South-to-North Water Diversion Project is designed to divert water from the water-rich south of China, mainly the Yangtze, the country's longest river, to the country's arid northern part. It will consist of three routes: eastern, middle and western ones. The project started with construction of the eastern route in 2002.

Up to now, both of the eastern and middle routes are already under construction. The western route, meant to replenish the Yellow River with water from the upper reaches of the Yangtze through tunnels in the high mountains of western China, is still at the planning stage.

About 330,000 people in Hubei and Henan provinces will be relocated before the middle route is completed in 2014.