Large Groups of People Start to Move out of Three Gorges AreasOver 1,000 people have recently set out from the Three Gorges to resettle in Shanghai and Jiangsu Province, thus unveiling the prelude for a large-scale emigration out from the Three Gorges reservoir areas.According to a person in charge, the resettlement of this year started from May 15 and to wind up by the end of August. July and August will be the busiest months for the resettlement. A total of 2,737 persons so far have been moved out from the Three Gorges in five batches. About 23,000 persons and 27,000 persons will have to be evacuated and resettled in July and August respectively. As planned the resettlement of this year will be carried out in 102 batches by 7,400 vehicle/times, 118 ship/times and 16 train/times. A total of 54,000 rural people (or 13,000 families) will move out of Chongqing this year for the construction of the Three Gorges Project, an additional 4,000 more than the annual resettlement target. About 43,000 people will go to resettle in 103 counties in 11 places of the provinces in east China. The rest will move to five other counties in Chongqing that are out of the reach of the reservoir. Construction of new houses for the resettlement will soon be brought to finish. In order to protect the eco-environment of the Three Gorges Project and solve the problem of capacity shortage for the resettlement, the State has decided to move out a total of 125,000 rural people in Chongqing in 2000-2002. About 70,000 of them will have to be relocated in 11 places and cities in Shanghai and other provinces, 45,000 to the areas out of the reach of the reservoir in Chongqing and Hubei Province and 10,000 for the other parts of China by themselves. By PD Online Staff Deng Gang |
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