Construction began on a key reservoir in central China's Hunan Province on Thursday, the Ministry of Water Resources said.

It is the first of the 27 key water conservation projects to be launched in China this year.

Mangshan Reservoir will be located in Yizhang County, along the Changle River, a tributary of the Zhujiang River. It is designed to help control floods and tap water resources.

It will be able to keep 133 million cubic meters of water with a hydropower capacity of 18,000 kilowatts.

By the end of April, the central government had allocated 112.35 billion yuan (18.41 billion U.S. dollars) on water conservation projects, about 66.6 percent of the total investment mapped for the year, according to the ministry.