Chinese Vice Premier Wu Bangguo urged the Three Gorges Project undertakers to closely stick to the schedule in a letter to the on-going working meeting of the project for 2001.
Wu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said in the letter that by 2003 the project's scheduled goals including the initial completing of the storage dam, the operation of the first group of generators and the opening to traffic of the permanent ship lock should be realized.
He noted that this year will be a crucial stage for the Three Gorges project and all participators should work even harder and give top priority to the construction quality.
According to a Three Gorges Project Development Company source, the project has made smooth headway since 1993 when it began.
(Xinhua 02/14/01)
