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DAM-L Companies bid for Three Gorges contracts, May 11, 2001 (fwd)
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Date: Fri, 11 May 2001 12:57:26 -0400
Subject: Companies bid for Three Gorges contracts, May 11, 2001
THREE GORGES PROBE, May 11, 2001
(1) Companies bid for Three Gorges contracts
(2) Proposed hydro dams pose threat for China's neighbours
(3) Yangtze River plagued by "white pollution"
(1) Companies bid for Three Gorges contracts
SNC-Lavalin of Canada and companies from five other
countries have bid for Three Gorges dam equipment
contracts, according to the project's owner, China Yangtze
Three Gorges Project Development Corporation.
SNC-Lavalin Energy Control System Inc., a subsidiary of
the Montreal-based engineering giant, and two other
companies have bid for the computer monitoring system
that will control operations at the dam's left-bank
powerhouse, right-bank powerhouse, Gezhouba Dajiang
power plant, Erjiang power plant, reservoir dispatching
system, spillway facilities, and navigation facilities. The
system will also connect to the safety monitoring system for
the Three Gorges and Gezhouba dams.
Voith Siemens of Germany has bid for an additional
computer monitoring system at the dam's left-bank
powerhouse that will be used to control and monitor 14
hydro-turbine generator units, the main transformer and
auxiliary devices, switch station, plant service system, and
floodgates.
The Three Gorges corporation and another firm, the Three
Gorges International Tendering Company, are evaluating
the bids and a decision is expected in May, according to the
Three Gorges corporation web site: www.china3gorges.com
SNC-Lavalin first became involved in the world's largest
dam project in the 1980s when the Canadian government
provided C$14 million to an engineering consortium,
including SNC-Lavalin, for producing a feasibility study that
would help attract international financiers.
Since construction began in 1993, Agra-Monenco, General
Electric Canada, Hydro Quebec and Teshmont Consultants
have won Three Gorges-related contracts. Canada's Export
Development Corporation has provided C$189 million for
Canadian-built turbines and equipment.
The Three Gorges project consists of a dam, 1,983 metres
long by 185 metres high and 26 generating units with a
combined generating capacity of 18.2 million kilowatts.
If completed as planned in 2009, the homes of 1.5 million
people will be submerged in a vast 600-kilometre long
reservoir. Chinese officials are reportedly using police force
and violence to force reluctant residents to leave their
homes.
For more information see Three Gorges Probe
http://www.probeinternational.org/pi/3g/
(2) Proposed hydro dams pose threat for China's
neighbours
May 6, 2001 -- According to a recent study by a
Stockholm-based environmental institute, a proposal to
build nine giant hydropower stations on the upper reaches
of the Mekong River presents a threat to hundreds of
millions of local people, wild animals, and water resources
and navigation in downstream nations, Hong Kong's
Mingpao reports. China is planning to build a number of
hydroelectric power stations in the upper reaches of the
4,880-kilometre long Lancangjiang-Mekong in an attempt to
stimulate economic development in urban southwest China.
The report which has yet to be completed, states that the
plan to construct more hydro dams on the upper Mekong --
another controversial hydro development scheme following
in the wake of the mammoth Three Gorges Project on the
Yangtze River -- will result in more floods in countries
downstream of the proposed dams, such as Burma,
Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. The report warns
the dams will also shrink the fishing industry and will cause
environmental destruction and interrupt shipping. Laos and
Cambodia, two of Asia's poorest nations, have been thirsty
for financial aid and technical assistance from China and will
be affected most by the proposed dam projects. According
to the state-run Xinhua News Agency, transnational water
transportation on the Lancangjiang-Mekong will be formally
launched next month through a series of joint investigations
and intensive negotiations between Laos, Cambodia,
Burma, and China.
(3) Yangtze River plagued by "white pollution"
April 26, 2001 -- Zhongguo xinwen she (China News
Service) reports that the Gezhouba Power Station, 38 km
downstream of the Three Gorges dam, is plagued by "white
pollution" -- discarded white plastics, fast-food containers,
consumer waste, and putrescent peels and vegetables that
have built up on the river section nearby to the dam. The
pollution is a result of rubbish heaps on the river's banks and
the foam plastic containers thrown by passengers from
boats. The pollution has a direct impact on the normal
working of the dam's generators, reducing water head and
wearing and tearing turbines' vanes. For years, much effort
has been made and tens of thousands of dollars spent on
fighting the problem but the "white pollution" still remains.
Many people are extremely concerned that the same
problem will repeat itself and be even worse at Three
Gorges dam, since the project is located upstream of the
Gezhouba Power Station.
- END -
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