China's gigantic Three Gorges Project is taking another step toward
completion, with its phase-two multibillion-dollar project due to
begin operation on June 1.
According to the official schedule, a source with the project said
on Wednesday, the dam gate will be closed on June 1 and, by June 15
the water level in the reservoir is expected to reach 135
meters.
After a decade of huge investment from the state and arduous,
incessant work by Chinese scientists, technicians and dam builders,
one of the world's biggest construction projects will begin to take
shape.
The increased water level will create a fall of 65 meters above the
river surface, laying the foundation for hydro-electric power
generation.
Two hydropower-generating units, each with a capacity of 700,000
kilowatts, will go into operation in August and another two will
start in October. And a total of 5.5 billion kilowatts/hours of
electricity will be turned out in the Three Gorges dam project area
this year.
In
the next three years or so, the project will deliver safe and clean
hydro-electricity to Shanghai Municipality and eight provinces in
central, east and south China.
After the flooding is completed, the 6.4-kilometer-long ship lock
will begin trials from June 16. And the shipping, which has been
banned for the last 60 days, will resume.
Officials with the Three Gorges Project Development Corporation
said that a huge, magnificent lake would form behind the gigantic
dam, extending some 600 kilometers upstream, almost reaching
Chongqing municipality.
The drastic rise of the water level will widen the channel, smooth
the water flow and restrain the menace of torrential streams and
hidden shoals, making the risky river section between Yichang and
Chongqing far easier to navigate.
The towering concrete cofferdam wall now stands at a height of 140
meters, five meters higher than the planned water level, which will
leave more than two billion cubic meters of reservoir capacity to
regulate the water level during the flooding season.
As
the construction of the dam project further progresses, the water
level is expected to reach 156 meters by 2006 when its third-phrase
construction is finished, extending the reservoir capacity for
flood control to 11.08 billion cubic meters. The figure will
proceed to go up to 22.15 billion cubic meters when the final
post-flooding water level of the reservoir will reach 175 meters by
the year 2009.
The construction of the Three Gorges dam project, which was first
launched in 1993, is expected to be completed in 2009, when 26
power-generating units with a combined capacity of 18.2 kilowatts
will be operational.
More than 600,000 local residents have already been relocated to
make way for the dam project, with nearly half a million local
farmers and villagers yet to be displaced.
(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2003)