China's second mass relocation in the Three Gorges reservoir
area began early last month. The first one was initiated over ten
years ago to make way for the giant Three Gorges Dam Project, begun in 1993 and
designed to generate electricity and contain floods on the lower
reaches of the Yangtze River. The government relocated a total of
1.13 million people. This time the number of relocated people would
more than double that figure to 2.3 million. The relocation would
help bring down the residential population in northeast Chongqing
to 7 million.
Another Mass Relocation Planned in Three Gorges
Area
On August 21, the Chongqing municipal government reviewed a
draft guideline concerning the social and economic development of
northeast Chongqing area.?The final document will be published
soon after government approval, an official with the Chongqing
Development and Reform Commission said in early September.
An important part of the guideline outlines the mass relocation
of people from the northeast area into the Chongqing city proper or
its Wanzhou District.
The northeast region covers 11 districts and counties in the
Three Gorges Reservoir area.
This is the second mass relocation in the reservoir area. The
first one was initiated over ten years ago to make way for the
giant Three Gorges Dam Project, begun in 1993 and designed to
generate electricity and contain floods on the lower reaches of the
Yangtze River. The government relocated a total of 1.13 million
people. More...
Last 100,000 People to Be Relocated from Gigantic
Reservoir
China will move the last group of more than 100,000 residents
away from the Three Gorges reservoir area by the end of next year
as the final part of a massive relocation plan launched in 1993 to
resettle 1.35 million people.
About 100,000 residents and five businesses will move from
Kaixian County in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to make
way for the gigantic Three Gorges reservoir, whose water level will
eventually reach 175 meters when the world's largest water
conservation project is completed in 2008, said Wang Xian'gang,
director of the Chongqing Municipal Relocation and Resettlement
Bureau.
In central-southern Hubei Province, about 8,000 people will also
be moved out of the reservoir area, local authorities said.?More...
Premier Calls for Better Resettlement of
Migrants
?
Premier Wen Jiabao has called on the governments and departments
around the country to help the people and local governments around
the Three Gorges reservoir.
Speaking at a national conference on the country's coordinated
support of the Three Gorges area held here on Monday, Wen said
other provinces and regions should do more to help resettle people
who were displaced by the reservoir.
More than a million people, who mainly lived in 20 counties of
southwest China's Chongqing Municipality and central China's Hubei
Province, were moved to make way for the Three Gorges Dam Project
which submerged their lands.
The conference was urged to provide stronger support to the
reservoir area so it can develop its own agriculture, tourism and
processing industries and create more jobs for those who had to
move. More...
Shifting Land Leads to
Evacuation
Twenty-two families living on a hillside about 17 km upstream
from the Three Gorges dam are to be relocated after local
government officials recorded abnormal ground movements in the
area.
The relocation will affect all 99 residents of Miaohe, a village
in the Maoping Township, in Zigui County, central China's Hubei
Province, which sits on the northern bank of the Yangtze, China's
longest river.
Zhao Zongzheng, chief of the agricultural office of Zigui county
government, said that by late October, all the villagers will have
been moved into new government-financed homes some 2 km away. More...
China to Aid Residents of Three Gorges
Region
The Chinese government will invest 55 billion yuan (US$6.88
billion) to settle residents relocated by the Three Gorges Project
and support local industries to provide enough job opportunities in
the next five years.
The fund will also be used for infrastructure construction,
environmental protection, and social development undertakings in
the region, said a senior official of southwest China's Chongqing
Municipality.
Investigations have revealed the unemployment rate in areas
around the Three Gorges Reservoir was as high as 11.5 percent last
year, despite a drop of 1.3 percentage points from 2005, said Wang
Hongju, mayor of Chongqing,
Over a million residents have bid farewell to their hometowns
and resettled because of the construction of the three gorges
project. More...
Construction of Major Section of Water
Project to Kick off
Construction of the Henan Province section of the central route
of China's South-to-North Water Diversion project will kick off by
the end of this month.
Construction began on the central route of the 1,277-km-long
project in 2003. It aims to divert water from Danjiangkou Reservoir
in central China's Hubei Province to northern China, including
Beijing and Tianjin Municipality.
Sources with the Henan provincial government said the 731-km
Henan section of the canal, the longest part, is expected to cost
67 billion yuan (US$8.4 billion).
Forty-three cities and townships in the province will benefit
from the province's annual water quota of 3.77 billion cubic meters
drawn from the 9.5 billion cubic meters diverted through the canal
every year, when the first phase of the project is completed in
2008. More...
(China.org.cn September 28, 2007)
