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Three Gorges Resettled People Arrive in New Home
More than 1,000 resettled residents from the Three Gorges dam area arrived in the Nantong port in Jiangsu Province via water Saturday.
The resettled people are all farmers from Guling town close to the city of Chongqing. They are the first batch of residents leaving the dam area this year.
The resettled people were not carrying much luggage. A man named Xiong Yunfang carried only a basket on his back, and an orange seedling in his hands.
He said his family has been living off of growing oranges in the past and intends to do the same at his new home.
Sources from the national authority on Resettlement Work in Three Gorges Areas said more than 40,000 farmers will be relocated to 108 counties in Shanghai, Guangdong and nine other regions throughout 2001.
China began to relocate farmers in the Three Gorges area to the coastal regions in 2000. Over 7,000 farmers benefited from the program that year.
Analysts said the new program reduces pressure on land and other resources in the dam area.
In all the area to receive the resettled, the governments have arranged houses and farmlands for the people from the Three Gorge Areas.
According to Zhang Baoxin, an official in charge of the resettlement program, the resettled people have been faring quite well in their new homes.
They have picked up farming and even started restaurants, mechanic shops, transportation and other businesses, Zhang said.
If everything goes well, the government hopes to relocate 70, 000 farmers from the Three Gorges area between 2000 and 2002 so that about 6,000 ha farmland will be freed from crop raising.
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