The environmental impact of the Three Gorges Dam has been less
than originally forecast, a senior project official said
Wednesday.
Wang Xiaofeng, director of the Office of Three Gorges Project
Construction Committee of the State Council, said: "The impact has
not gone beyond the scope predicted in a 1991 feasibility report.
In some aspects, it is not as severe as predicted."
Work on the 180 billion yuan (US$22.5 billion) project on the
middle reaches of the Yangtze River, which started in 1993, is
expected to be completed by 2009.
To protect the environment, seven pilot projects have been
designed to prevent pollutant discharge, improve biological
diversity, and ensure drinking water quality in the area, said
Wang.
The pilot projects in cities including Chongqing, Shanghai and
Yichang, will also be completed by 2009, and involve the ministries
of communications, agriculture and the State Environment and
Protection Administration.
The committee is also setting up a monitoring system to evaluate
environment protection work.
"We want to build not only a first-class hydropower project, but
also a good environment," Wang told China Daily.
The project has had more positive, than negative, impact on the
ecosystem, Wang said.
No major geological disaster has been reported in the reservoir
area since the water level was raised to 156 meters last year.
Han Qiwei, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the
project is not to blame for some ecological problems in the Yangtze
River that predate the building of the dam.
The project plays a key role in clean energy production and
flood prevention, Han pointed out.
This summer, the dam was used for the first time in flood
prevention, protecting the 60 million people in the lower reaches
of the Yangtze from flooding, Wang Zhongfa, dean of the water
resources department of Hubei Province, said.
The government has pumped in huge amounts of money to prevent
geological and ecological disasters in the reservoir area, which
used to witness frequent landslides before the dam was built.
About 40 billion yuan (US$5.33 billion) will be spent between
2001 and 2010 to build at least 150 sewage treatment plants and 170
urban garbage disposal centers to prevent water pollution in the
dam area and the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.
Till September, about 112 billion yuan (US$14 billion) was spent
for major project works and relocation of affected people.
All About
Three Gorges Project,
Yangtze River
The Three Gorges
Reservoir pictured on July 17, 2007.
(
China Daily November 22, 2007)
