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dam-l SCMP "Listing ruled out for 3g Power Company" Mar 10, 2000
South China Morning Post
Friday, March 10, 2000
NPC AND CPPCC
Listing ruled out for power company
JASPER BECKER in Beijing
The Three Gorges company will not be floated on the stock market because
it is beset with economic and technical problems, said Yuan Guolin,
retired deputy general manager of the Three Gorges Development Company and
a delegate to the CPPCC.
The project is due to start generating electricity in 2003, but the China
Business Times ran a story headlined "Who will buy the Three Gorges
Electricity?" quoting Mr Yuan as saying he doubts it will have any
customers.
It was originally planned that the electricity would be bought by 10
provinces and cities but none are now short of power.
These provinces and cities are still pushing to build new nuclear and
thermal power plants because they generate much bigger tax revenues.
Mr Yuan also said the company would not be listed, partly because it might
swamp the domestic market and also because the state was providing enough
financial resources.
He expressed fears about the unprecedented technical problems facing
engineers who will have to install generators and turbines bought from 19
factories in seven countries.
It may prove difficult for them to function together, especially as they
will have to be adapted to cope with winter temperatures and water-level
differences of 30 to 40 metres.
Supervision of the project, which is costing about 40 million yuan
(HK$37.6 million) a day, is another problem, he said, alluding to rampant
corruption plaguing construction and resettlement.
"This too much money to oversee," he said.
Most of the funds earmarked for the resettlement of families displaced by
the Three Gorges Dam project which had been embezzled have been recovered,
said Chongqing Vice-mayor Gan Yuping yesterday. Officials who had pocketed
the money had been given stiff sentences and about 80 per cent of the
money siphoned off had been recovered, Mr Gan said.
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