ZHENGZHOU, Henan: The 35.2-billion-yuan Xiaolangdi Water-Control Project on the Yellow River in Henan province is helping to improve the eco-system and environment downstream, officials said yesterday.

The scheme, supposedly the largest on the river, was started in 1994 to manage levels at more than 92 percent of the river's basin areas, 90 percent of its water flow and its total sediment downstream.

"The project played a big role in securing the health of the river and rehabilitating its eco-system and environment downstream, where millions of residents would earlier suffer from catastrophic floods," Sun Xianzhong, an official with the Ministry of Water Resources, said yesterday.