3 Gorges dam generating big problems, admits China
PTI | May 21, 2011, 05.14am IST
BEIJING: China, in a rare admission has acknowledged that the biggest dam in 
the world, Three Gorges, on the Yangtze River, has caused a range of 
environmental problems that need to be urgently addressed. 

A statement issued after a cabinet meeting headed by Premier Wen Jiabao said 
while the project had played a key role in flood prevention and power 
generation, it had caused severe problems to the environment, shipping, 
agricultural irrigation and water supplies in the lower reaches of the Yangtze 
River, an area of 633,000 sq km shared by eight provinces. 

The Three Gorges Project, built with a budget of $22.5 billion, is a 
multi-functional water control system, consisting of a dam, a five-tier ship 
dock and 26 hydropower turbo-generators. Construction began in 1993 on the 
$22.5 billion dam on the Yangtze River - the world's largest hydroelectric dam 
- and the project in central China began generating power in 2008. 

About 1.4 million people were displaced to make way for the dam and its huge 
reservoir, which has put several cultural heritage sites deep underwater. The 
official admission came as a lingering drought, in central and southern China, 
has left residents and livestock without drinking water and dried up rivers 
across the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/3-Gorges-dam-generating-big-problems-admits-China/articleshow/8478715.cms

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