China will construct a new hydropower project on Qingjiang River, a major tributary of Yangtze after it passes through the famous Three Gorges.

According to local sources, a plan for constructing the hydropower project at Shuibuya was recently approved by the State Development Planning Commission.

Shuibuya Hydropower Station will be the third hydroelectric project ever constructed on the Qingjiang River.

Geheyan Hydropower Station, 93 km downstream from Shuibuya Project, has an installed generating capacity of 1.2 million kw and has been in operation since 1998. Gaobazhou Hydropower Station further downstream, which started construction in 1997 and is still under construction, will have an installed generating capacity of 252,000 kw on completion.

Shuibuya Hydropower Project will consist of a 233-meter-high dam, a number of workshops for generators. It will have an installed capacity of 1.6 million kw and will be able to generate 3.92 billion kwh of electricity annually when finished. The reservoir behind the dam will be able to store 4.58 billion cu m of water.

The new project will cost 12 billion yuan. Preparatory work for the project has been carried out. The first generator will start generating electricity in 2006 and the entire project will be finished in 2009.

Wang Dingguo, chairman of the board of directors with Qingjiang River Hydropower Development Co. Ltd., the developer of the Shuibuya project, said the completion of Shuibuya Hydropower Project will play an important role in regulating water peaks on Yangtze River during summer flood season and power supply peaks on central China power grid, enhancing safe operation reliability of local power grids. It will help reduce direct economic losses from flooding by 15 billion yuan.

On completion, the new water control project will also be of navigation, tourism and breeding functions and help promote local economic development in western areas of Hubei Province, where most of the province's people of ethnic groups live.