First Generating Units Installed at Three Gorges Dam

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, May 19, 2003

First Generating Units Installed at Three Gorges Dam

The installation of the first batch of generating units is under way at the Three Gorges Hydro-electric Station on China's Yangtze River, contractors said Sunday.

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The installation of the first batch of generating units is under way at the Three Gorges Hydro-electric Station on China's Yangtze River, contractors said Sunday.

Engineers with Gezhouba Group Co., which was contracted to install the units, said two generating units were scheduled to come into operation in August and two more in October, with a designed generating capacity of 700,000 kw.

They are expected to produce 5.5 billion kwh this year. And 22 more units will be installed from 2004 to 2009.

As work on the 12 power generating units on the northern bank of the river progresses, another water-use right allowing an annual water consumption of 198.9 billion cubic metres will be granted.

To guarantee the success of the largest water conservancy project in China, the committee agreed in 1996 to approve The Three Gorges Project Development Company's application for an annual water consumption of 431.3 billion cubic metres.

Of the total, 85.77 million cubic metres of water will be used for construction and domestic purposes.

According to China's Water Law, water resources are State assets. To draw water from a particular source, such as a lake, an irrigation canal or a river, official licences are required.

Construction of the Three Gorges project began in 1993 and is expected to be completed in 2009, when a total of 26 power generating units with a combined capacity of 18.2 million kw will go into operation.

Actual investment in the project is expected to reach 180 billion yuan (22 billion US dollars), 20 billion yuan (2.43 billion US dollars) less than the total budget for the project.

In another development, the third and fourth round of resettling residents around the Three Gorges Reservoir started last Monday, and will relocate about 430,000 people by 2009.

Most of those to be resettled in Hubei Province and Chongqing Municipality will move to newly built cities or villages at higher altitudes than their home towns.

And only 20,000 residents will relocate to places outside Hubei and Chongqing, where over 600 square kilometres of land will be inundated by the new reservoir.

"The rest of the relocation campaign will be implemented in two stages," said a director surnamed Zhang with the Construction Committee of The Three Gorges Project under the State Council.

Premier Wen Jiabao was recently appointed the head of the committee, with Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan and a dozen high-profile State Council officials also forming part of the leadership group.

By 2006, residents who live between 135 and 156 metres above the dam floor should be completely relocated. By 2009, those living at 156-175 metres should be moved out, said Zhang.

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