WUHAN - China will allocate 18 billion yuan ($2.7 billion) from 2011 to 2015 to deepen the navigation channel on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, according to local authorities.

Chen Yuanhua, deputy director with the Nanjing Yangtze River Waterway Bureau, said the project would allow 50,000-tonne vessels to sail from the estuary of the river all the way up to Nanjing, capital city of east China's Jiangsu province.

Major construction work, starting at the end of this year, is expected to be completed by 2015.

The investments come from the Ministry of Transport and the government of Jiangsu Province.