BEIJING -- The Chinese central government spent 31.45 billion yuan ($5.12 billion) between January and November on relocating people because of large or medium-sized reservoir constructions, a Ministry of Finance statement said Tuesday.

A government policy entitles each relocated person to 600 yuan every year for 20 years. The policy came into force on July 1, 2006.

The central government has so far pumped 147.07 billion yuan into supporting relocated people because of the construction of large or medium-sized reservoirs, the statement said.

Funding has grown 15 percent annually, it said.

The money has helped improve the standard of living for relocated people, the statement said.

Official statistics showed that around 1.4 million people have been relocated since 1993 to make way for the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower project.