Another 4 million people would be relocated in southwest China's
Chongqing Municipality not because of the Three Gorges Dam but due
to labor demands in the city, said an official in charge of the dam
construction on Tuesday.
Wang Xiaofeng, director of the office of the Three Gorges
Project Committee of the State Council, told a press conference
here about 4 million people would be moved from rural to urban
areas in Chongqing in support of "local industrial restructuring
and labor transformation".
It is not the first time China has denied any relation between
the vast relocation and the Three Gorges Project.
A Chongqing government spokesman earlier this month denied media
reports that another four million people would be relocated because
of environmental problems caused by the Three Gorges project.
Wen Tianping, the spokesman, stressed that the plan to encourage
millions to leave their homes was part of a wider urbanization
drive and was not a forced relocation.
"The municipality aims to attract three to four million people
from rural to urban areas by 2020 to narrow the urban-rural wealth
gap," Wen said.
According to Wang, by September 2007 China had relocated 1.22
million people for the Three Gorges Project, built 45.83 million
square meters of housing and moved more than 1,570 industrial
enterprises.
"China has a particular relocation issue when it comes to
gigantic hydropower projects, since it is the most populous country
in the world. The 20-billion-dollar Itaipu Hydropower Plant on the
border between Brazil and Paraguay only needed to relocate all
together 90,000 people in the two countries," Wang said.
"The Chinese government has shown great concern for the migrants
and hopes to bring them a stable and affluent life in the future,"
Wang said.
So far, the State Council has approved the allocation of 52.9
billion yuan (7.15 billion U.S. dollars) to subsidize people moving
out of the reservoir area, he said.
"We also encouraged other provinces and cities to help the
development of their resettlement area and the support funds from
them had reached 34.1 billion yuan (4.6 billion U.S. dollars) by
the end of last year," he said.
All the money has been used directly on migrants, including
relocation compensations, an annual allowance of 600 yuan for each
migrant from rural areas and investment in roads, schools,
hospitals and other constructions around their new homes, he
said.
He said that the 289 million yuan (39 million U.S. dollars)
found to have been improperly used in previous audits did not end
up in individual pockets.
"The money was used for the right purposes, but just beyond the
budgets. We have corrected the wrong spending," he said.
In addition to fund support, the Chinese government has enacted
a special relocation regulation to protect the migrants' legal
interests, ordered each migrant to be settled with a new job or
land and offered them training to help them adapt to new jobs more
easily.
"Regarding individuals who refuse to move, local governments
should try to find out the reasons first. If they are concerned
about the environment of their new dwelling place and their
employment, the governments shall make improvements to dispel their
worries," Wang said.
"Most people moved after they were convinced by the government's
attentive arrangements and made clear about the state policy. Only
very few individuals were unwilling to move and local governments
handled them appropriately according to the law," he added.
China will have relocated nearly 1.4 million people by the
conclusion of the relocation process by summer next year, according
to an official with Wang's office.
(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2007)