Premier Stresses Engineering Quality for Three Gorges Dam ����Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji on December 30 urged the builders of the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest water conservation and hydropower project, to attach the utmost importance to engineering quality, and make sure this gigantic dam will bring no calamity to China's future generations. ����He also said that when necessary China will invite world-famous engineering-monitoring companies to help control quality. ����"Quality means the life of the Three Gorges Project, and the responsibility on your shoulder is heavier than a mountain. Any carelessness or negligence will bring disaster to our future generations and cause irretrievable losses," Zhu told dam builders at the construction site in the city of Yichang in central China's Hubei Province. ����Zhu, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, noted that the ongoing second-phase construction of the dam is an extremely critical stage for the Three Gorges Project, and expressed the hope that everyone engaged in this work will show a high sense of historical responsibility and strive for first-class engineering quality for the dam. ����"A strict engineering-quality monitoring system must be introduced into the Three Gorges Project," said Zhu. "When necessary, we can invite some foreign engineering-monitoring companies with good reputations and experience to help us monitor the quality of some critical parts of the dam." ����He went on to say that efforts must be made to improve the management of funds for the Three Gorges Project and strengthen supervision over the use of these funds. ����"We must establish a strict auditing system and increase transparency in the use of the funds, to make sure that not a penny of project funds is misused or diverted to other purposes," he stressed. ����The premier also underlined the work of relocating the more than 1 million residents in the Three Gorges area to make way for the dam. ����"A successful relocation is key to the development of the Three Gorges Project," he said, adding that the period from now until the year 2003 will be of critical importance for the relocation efforts. ����Beginning December 28, Zhu inspected the Chongqing municipality in southwest China and Hubei Province, both of which are playing a vital role in the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. ���� HomeNews 1999-01-04 Page1 Full Story in Chinese