Longtan hydropower station, located on the upper reaches of the Pearl River in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, will begin power generation in May 2007.
  
The projected opening is two months ahead of schedule, said Dai Bo, general manager of Longtan Hydropower Project Development Co. Ltd.
  
According to Dai, concrete pouring of the 216.5 meter dam has entered a crucial stage. The dam, which will need 8 million cubic meters of concrete for construction, will be the biggest of its kind worldwide.
  
A score of specialists, including five academicians, were invited to the site to give guidance on technical problems ranging from temperature control, timing of water storage, to quality control in building of the dam, said Dai.
  
The Longtan hydropower project is the largest of the 10 hydraulic power facilities to be built on Hongshui River, the upper reaches of Pearl River. It will generate 18.7 billion kwh annually when the project finishes construction in December 2009.
  
Longtan hydropower project should play an important role in harnessing the flood-prone Hongshui River and reducing flood damage to the benefit of the lower reaches of the Pearl River.
  
The flood on the Hongshui River in 1996, for instance, endangered 12.01 million residents and ruined 470,000 hectares of farmland. 

(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2005)