Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality plans to relocate 108,000 residents to make way for the Three Gorges Reservoir this year, a local resettlement official said.

Among the 108,000 people to be resettled, 23,400 peasants will be relocated to other parts of China this year while 130 industrial and mining enterprises will be moved from the reservoir areas, said Liu Fuyin, director of Chongqing municipal resettlement department.

Liu said the municipality would build about 2.75 million square meters of houses this year for the resettlement.

To date, more than 800,000 residents have been moved from Chongqing and neighboring Hubei Province to clear the way for the Three Gorges Reservoir and the world's biggest hydroelectric project.

The municipal government will concentrate on developing key projects like transport, energy and water resources in the reservoir areas to create jobs for migrants.

About 1.13 million people, most of whom are Chongqing residents, will have to move for the dam project on its completion in 2009.

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2004)