A ceremony was held Sunday in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous
Region to launch the Zhigung Hydro-electric Plant Project, the
biggest of its kind in the region.
Located in Maizhokunggar County on the Lhasa River, the power
station has a planned generating capacity of 100,000 kw with its
reservoir, which is under construction, capable of storing 225
million cubic meters of water.
With total funding of 1.33 billion yuan (US$162 million),the
project will take five years to complete.
The power station is expected to produce 407 million kwh a year for
Lhasa and other cities in central Tibet.
Qiangba Puncog, chairman of Tibet Autonomous Region, said the power
plant, together with existing hydro-electric stations in the
central part of the region, would help meet the power demand in the
region before 2010.
The first group of generation units is scheduled to go into
production in December 2006 and the whole project is expected to be
completed by the end of September 2007.
The project is listed as a state major energy project from 2001to
2005.
((Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2003)