China would finish repairing 6,240 mid-size and small at-risk reservoirs by the end of 2010, said the Water Resources Minister Chen Lei.

Chen made the remarks at a working conference in the capital city of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Senior water officials said these reservoirs are "weak points" in the country's flood control work.

More than 2,300 of the most at-risk reservoirs have been repaired since 1998.

The country's direct economic loss from floods this year reached 56.19 billion yuan (US$8.2 billion) as of August 1, said the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

The floods left 346 dead and 101 missing in 27 localities nationwide, with more than 77.89 million people and 4.65 million hectares of farmland affected and 294,400 houses destroyed.

The State Council, or the Cabinet, approved in March an investment of 51 billion yuan in the ministry's reservoir repair project.

(Xinhua News Agency September 12, 2008)