THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2003
Countdown begins for world's largest hydro-electric project
PTI
BEIJING: China has started the countdown for flooding the huge reservoir of the mammoth multibillion dollar Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydro-electric project, which has displaced over six lakh people.
The first main water-storage phase of the Three Gorges Dam is proceeding on schedule, the Deputy General Manager of the China Three Gorges Project Development Corp., Cao Guangjing said after an expert team from the state council, China's cabinet, concluded final inspection of the main dam in Yichang in central China's Hubei province.
According to schedule, the second phase of one of China's most ambitious project since 1949, is due to begin on June one when the dam gate will be closed to allow water from the mighty Yangtze river to flood the reservoir area of the dam which is 2,309 metres-long and 185 metres-high.
Cao said that a huge, magnificent lake would form behind the gigantic dam, extending some 600 kilometres upstream, almost reaching Chongqing municipality in southwest China.
"After a decade of huge investment from the state and arduous, incessant work by Chinese scientists, technicians and dam builders, one of the world's biggest construction projects will begin to take shape", the official Xinhua news agency commented ahead of the d-day.
By June 15, the water level in the reservoir is expected to reach 135 meters, inundating many of the towns and villages, deserted by people who have been relocated to other provinces and cities of China.
More than 600,000 local residents have already been relocated to make way for the dam project, with nearly half a million local farmers and villagers yet to be displaced, an official report said.
Two hydropower-generating units, each with a capacity of 700,000 kilowatts, will go into operation in August and another two units will start in October. And a total of 5.5 billion kilowatts/hours of electricity will be turned out in the Three Gorges Dam project area this year.
In the next three years or so, the project will deliver hydro-electricity to Shanghai municipality and eight provinces in central, east and south China and help ease power shortage.
As the construction of the dam project further progresses, the water level is expected to reach 156 metres by 2006 when its third-phrase construction is finished, extending the reservoir capacity for flood control to 11.08 billion cubic meters. The figure will reach up to 22.15 billion cubic meters when the final post-flooding water level of the reservoir will reach 175 meters by the year 2009.
The massive project is expected to cost 180 billion yuan ($21.68 billion) on the world's biggest hydropower project started in 1992 and is expected to finish in 2009, when 26 power-generating units with a combined capacity of 18.2 kilowatts will be operational.
Officials say China has adopted the world's most advanced safety monitoring methods at the three gorges dam.
To date, more than 5,100 monitoring instruments have been installed on the dam and eight million items of data have been input into the system which is capable to monitor possible deformations of the dam, crevices, hydraulic problems, ageing of materials and leaks.
The Three Gorges Project Development Corp will take over management of flood discharging, water storage, power generation and shipping for both projects.
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