Yichang city of central Hubei Province relocated more than 150,000 people to make way for the Three Gorges project in the past 17 years through the end of 2009, local authority has said.

This meant Yichang had completed its resettlement task for the project, said Wu Shujun, director of the Yichang resettlement bureau.

Nine new towns had been built for residents relocated from the Three Gorges Reservoir area in Yichang since the resettlement began in 1992, said Wu.

Industries in the Three Gorges Reservoir area of Yichang had been developed along with the resettlement and construction on new infrastructure facilities, such as electric power transmission projects, TV and radio services, ports and docks, proceeded smoothly, said Wu. Highways with a total length of 1,000 km were built, he said.

The post-resettlement work would be focused on improving residents' lives, Wu said. Subsidies and job training would be provided to the relocated people, he said.

Construction of the Three Gorges project began in 1993, with a budget of 180 billion yuan (about 22.5 billion U.S. dollars).

Located half way up the Yangtze River, the massive hydropower project comprises a 185-meter-high dam, completed in early 2006, a five-tier ship lock and a reservoir.

A total of 1.35 million people and 1,500 enterprises in Hubei Province and Chongqing Municipality needed to be relocated to make way for the project. So far, 1.28 million people have been resettled at a cost of 53.5 billion yuan (about 6.69 billion U.S. dollars).