Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China will launch a flood control project along the Yarkant River, according to the regional development and reform commission.

The project in southern Xinjiang is expected to cost 2.9 billion yuan (470 million U.S. dollars) and take three years to complete.

The Yarkant River, all 1,289 km of it, frequently floods, threatening the lives of residents living on its banks. Disaster relief amounts to hundreds of millions of yuan in each flood season, with 90 percent of residents involved.

The project will have dykes newly constructed or reinforced, riverway dredged and floodgates reconstructed.

Xinjiang government plans to spend 72 billion yuan in 2015 on 100 projects covering environment, employment, housing, agriculture, and other fields.