XI'AN, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Construction of the largest water control project in northwest China's Shaanxi Province has started, local authorities said Sunday.

With an investment of more than 15.4 billion yuan (around 2.3 billion U.S. dollars), the Dongzhuang water control project on the Jinghe River consists of a reservoir, a power generation system, and several other facilities for purposes such as flood or sand control, according to Shaanxi Provincial Department of Water Resources.

According to the plan, the project has a water storage capacity of more than 3.2 billion cubic meters, and installed capacity can reach 110,000 kilowatts.

It can block around 1 billion tonnes of sand from rushing into the Yellow River, and provide 435 million cubic meters of water for 1.65 million residents and 97,000 hectares of farmland in Shaanxi every year.

Liu Guozhong, provincial governor of Shaanxi, said that the project would effectively alleviate the pressure on flood controls and provide optimized allocation of water resources and supply electricity in the area of Guanzhong, the economic powerhouse of Shaanxi.

Located on the Jinghe River, a tributary of the Yellow River, the project is expected to be completed within eight years.