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DAM-L THREE GORGES PROBE: March 5, 2001 (fwd)
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Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2001 14:19:41 -0500
From: ProbeInternational@nextcity.com (ProbeInternational)
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Subject: THREE GORGES PROBE: March 5, 2001
THREE GORGES PROBE
March 5, 2001
(1) Residents in Three Gorges reservoir area apply
to move out
(2) Clean-up of river a sham - academic
(3) Insurers share 3 Gorges coverage
(4) Two more Yangtze dams planned
(5) Resettlement rules
(6) Project to be launched to improve the environment of
Three Gorges area
(1) Residents in Three Gorges reservoir area apply
to move out
Feb. 28, 2001 - China Daily reports that more than 60,000
people living in the reservoir area of the Three Gorges
Project have applied at the local resettlement bureaus to
move to other Chinese provinces. The figure is 10,000, or
one-sixth, more than the planned figure, said an official with
the Chongqing Municipal Relocation Bureau.
According to the construction plan, about 1.17 million
people in Hubei and Chongqing will leave their homes in the
Three Gorges Area. Nearly one million live in Chongqing.
To date, some 200,000 people have moved out of their
homes in Chongqing. The number of emigrants exceeded
10,000 last year.
An estimated 50,000 people are expected to move out this
year. About 40,000 people will be settled in 11 Chinese
provinces. Up to this week, 30,000 resettlers have
contacted with the counties they will settle in.
(2) Clean-up of river a sham - academic
Feb. 26, 2001 - The South China Morning Post has revealed
that a widely publicised effort to clean up the Huai River
has failed. According to the newspaper, a whistle-blowing
official contradicted glowing reports published in the
People's Daily.
The three-year programme to rid the Huai River and its
tributaries of pollutants endangering drinking water for 150
million people was hailed as a triumph when it ended in
December.
But Professor Su Kiasheng, of Huainan Industrial College
and a vice-chairman of Anhui's People's Political
Consultative Conference, claimed in the Worker's Daily that
the water was still seriously polluted. "It is a long way from
reaching the State Council's standards," he wrote, adding
that the discharge of pollutants last year more than doubled
government targets.
"To meet the State Council's targets, some provinces gave
false figures and made false reports to the central
Government. As a matter of fact, the pollution has not
changed much, although some of the smaller factories have
been ordered to halt production."
This story comes on the heels of the discovery that the
Yangtze River is seriously polluted and that officials are
worried the reservoir behind the Three Gorges dam will
become a "sewage lake".
For related stories see:
Funds needed to prevent 'sewage lake', February 1, 2001
Confidential correspondence reveals environmental crisis at
the Three Gorges dam, February 14, 2001
(3) Insurers share 3 Gorges coverage
Feb. 23, 2001 - The China Daily reports that three domestic
insurers inked a 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) insurance
contract in Beijing with the China Yangtze Three Gorges
Project Development Corp for the country's largest power
plant.
The three companies will jointly underwrite the construction
insurance for the installation of 14 hydropower generating
units on the Three Gorges' left bank and the insurance for
the transportation of transformers and gas insulated
systems.
The People's Insurance Company of China (PICC), the
country's largest property insurer, will take 50 per cent of
the policy while China Pacific Insurance Company handles
30 per cent and the China Ping An Insurance Company the
remaining 20 per cent.
Chinese insurance companies have been involved in the
project ever since the start of the construction. Not
counting the latest deal, PICC holds 17 billion yuan
(US$2.04 billion) worth of insurance contracts connected
with the project, accounting for 70 per cent of the total.
(4) Two more Yangtze dams planned
Feb. 23, 2001 - The South China Morning Post reports
that China will build two additional multi-billion-dollar
reservoirs on the Yangtze River to generate power and trap
sediment that would otherwise congest the Three Gorges
Dam.
The two dams, Xiluodu and Xiangjiaba, will on the Jinsha
River, which is on the Yangtze's upper reach in Sichuan
province, Xinhua News Agency reported. The China
Yangtze Three Gorges Project Development Corporation,
an affiliate of the Ministry of Water Resources, will build all
three dams.
Company officials said these two dams will generate nearly
as much power as Three Gorges. But a more crucial
function is to trap sediment that would otherwise build up at
Three Gorges Dam downstream.
Worsening soil erosion and floods have made the Yangtze
River muddier in recent years. About 710 million tonnes of
sediment passed through the Three Gorges portion of the
river in 1998, more than the average 530 tonnes per year
noted in the pre-1990s feasibility report. Many experts have
worried the sediment could silt up Three Gorges Dam,
which would halt electricity generation and flood control.
(5) Resettlement rules
Feb. 17, 2001 - The China Daily reports that rules on
resettlement for the Three Gorges dam are about to change.
Yesterday, Premier Zhu Rongji presided over the 35th
executive meeting of the State Council which examined and
adopted, in principle, draft amendments to the rules on
resettlement
The State Council has just finished reviewing amendments
to the resettlement rules, set originally in 1993. The revised
rules are to be issued by the State Council after the
amendments are made.
(6) Project to be launched to improve the environment of
Three Gorges area
Jan. 30, 2001 - A decade-long project titled "Green
Mountains and Rivers Project" is to be launched in
southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to improve the
environment of the Three Gorges area, where the Three
Gorges Reservoir is under construction.
With 20.4 billion yuan (about 2.46 billion US dollars)
investment for the next decade, Chongqing, the nearest
metropolis to the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, aims
to return more than 133,000 ha of cultivated land on slopes
to forests or grassland, according to a recent report by the
People's Daily.
Chongqing, also, recently decided to take tougher measures
to curb pollution that still threatens the ecology of the Three
Gorges area.
The recent disclosure of internal documents in the Three
Gorges Probe revealed that environmental degradation in
the Three Gorges reservoir area is much worse than
expected.
For related story see:
Three Gorges Probe Press Release, February 14, 2001
- END -
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