"More than 1.05 million residents in the Three Gorges dam area have been successfully relocated over the past two decades," an official in charge of operations said at a press conference on August 31.

The number accounts for 82.6 percent of the 1.13 million people who were expected to be displaced from their homes in the water diversion project area, according to Cao Guangjing, deputy manager with China Yangtze Three Gorges Project Corporation (CTGPC), the company in charge of the development of the project.

Cao said most of the resettled people are satisfied with their new homes and enjoy better living conditions.

China began the eight-year trial resettlement exercise in 1985 in the Three Gorges area and launched official resettlement in 1993 when the construction of the 185-meter-high dam started on the middle reaches of China's longest river, the Yangtze.

By the end of July this year, nearly 42.9 billion yuan (US$ 5.3 billion) had been earmarked for relocation expenses, construction and rebuilding various infrastructural facilities.

Some 21 billion yuan (US$ 2.6 billion) of the total amount was raised by 21 Chinese provinces and municipalities, more than 10 large and medium-sized cities, and more than 50 government departments.

At a cost of 203.9 billion yuan (about US$ 25.2 billion), the Three Gorges Project, scheduled for completion in 2009, is designed to help control flooding of the Yangtze River, at the same time generating hydroelectricity to meet China's power supply demands.

China has injected an additional 121.6 billion yuan (US$ 14.9 billion) to the project so far, accounting for about 60 percent of the initial budget, according to CTGPC. But the plan is to keep costs within the 180 billion yuan (over US$ 22 billion) mark.

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2005)