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From owner-irn-three-gorges@igc.org Tue Nov 11 13:36:00 1997
From: owner-irn-three-gorges@igc.org
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 1997 10:02:01 -0800 (PST)
Message-Id: <199711111802.KAA11374@igc3.igc.apc.org>
>Date: Sat, 8 Nov 1997 3:23:29 PST
To: "undisclosed-recipients:;"@igc.org
>
>
> YICHANG, China, Nov 8 (AFP) - China dammed the mighty Yangtze
>river Saturday in preparation for the world's largest hydroelectric
>power project and declared the feat a wonder of history.
> Fleets of yellow trucks dumped 60,000 cubic metres (78,000 cubic
>yards) of rockfill and cement into the waterway in an intense
>six-hour period that capped the initial three years of construction
>work in the 17-year project.
> As engineers clambered over the huge boulders that closed off
>the last of the river flow at 3:15 p.m. (0715 GMT), the force of
>China's largest river was diverted through a southern canal some 3.7
>kilometres (2.3 miles) long.
> Although the project will see more than a million people moved
>from their homes and has been met with fierce protests from
>environmental groups, Chinese officials brush aside criticism.
> "This successful damming is a wonder in the history of man's
>harnessing of nature," said President Jiang Zemin who flew into the
>site in central China's Hubei province to oversee the damming.
> "The age-old dream of the Chinese people to develop and utilize
>the resources of the Yangtze river has come closer to being
>realised," he added.
> As Premier Li Peng declared the closure complete and the end of
>the first phase of the massive project, boats on the river sounded
>their horns and the construction company sent three green flares
>into the sky.
> Six hours earlier, three red flares shot into the sky declared
>the start of work to close off the final 40 metres (132 feet) of the
>dam.
> "The damming of the Yangtze is of great political and economic
>significance," Li told the thousands of engineers involved in the
>scheme.
> "It proves to the whole world the Chinese peoples' capability of
>building the world's first-rate hydroelectric project," he added.
> But work on the project continued as the host of top Chinese
>leaders departed the site -- the first dam may be complete, but it
>has to be built up to a height of 88.5 metres (292 feet) and a width
>of 300 metres (990 feet) at the base before annual flooding starts
>in May.
> The dam, along with an identical breakwater further downstream,
>will create a ship-lock that will be dried out ahead of the
>construction of the world's largest hydroelectric power project --
>the Three Gorges Dam -- on the site.
> Eventually the final 185-metre (610-foot) high dam, with 26
>turbines to create 84.7 billion kilowatt-hours of power a year, will
>be built between the two temporary dams.
> Even by the end of this year, the cost of the gigantic Three
>Gorges project will have reached 28.4 billion yuan (3.4 billion
>dollars), higher than the total cost of Brazil's Itaipu
>hydroelectric dam.
> But the projected cost of 240 billion yuan is expected to be
>recovered by 2012, three years after all the turbines go into
>operation, as electricity sales are projected to bring in 100
>million yuan a day.
> While anger at the project within China -- where 1.2 million
>people will have to be resettled -- has been largely silenced, a
>number of foreign environmental and engineering groups have launched
>strong objections.
> They say the scale of the dam will cause massive environmental
>changes while siltation behind the dam could seriously reduce power
>generation within a few years.
> Beijing rejects the siltation fears and says the dam is
>environmentally friendly as it will create the energy equivalent of
>50 million tonnes of coal a year.
> The government also says the damming of the Yangtze, the world's
>third longest river will not affect all of the breath-taking beauty
>of the Three Gorges which have long been one of China's most famous
>tourist sites.
>-=-=-
>
>Organization: Copyright 1997 by Agence France-Presse
>Subject: China dams mighty Yangtze river
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Date: Tue, 11 Nov 1997 11:05:00 -0800
From: patrick@irn.org (Patrick McCully)
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Subject: China dams mighty Yangtze river
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