55,000 People at Three Gorges to Be Resettled from Next YearThe year 2001 will see some 55,000 people at the Three Gorges on China's longest river of Yangtze resettled for the construction of the world's largest hydropower project, according to a senior resettlement official.Qi Lin, director of the Resettlement Development Bureau with the State Council Three Gorges Project Construction Committee, announced that the resettlement of rural residents will be a top priority of the bureau's work next year. He said that when the electricity begins to be generated in 2003, the water level at the Three Gorges will be 135 meters above sea level. Resettlement for next year will focus on farmers living below this level. According to the official, some people are to be relocated in the rural area of Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu Jiangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Anhui, Sichuan and Hubei provinces as well Shanghai. To better protect the ecological environment near the dam area, the State Council has decided to move farmers further away from the originally planned area of higher grounds nearby, said the official. Qi said that so far this year over 1,700 households with some 7, 000 people have been moved out of the dam area, and properly settled elsewhere, which is ahead of the scheduled 6,600 people to be relocated. |
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