Construction begins on big hydro project
(China Daily)Updated: 2006-11-27 08:38
He said hydropower could help reduce ecological contamination by saving pollution-causing energy resources.
The Xiangjiaba project is expected to generate 30.7 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually upon completion, which translates into 14 million tons less coal burnt each year. China is estimated to have consumed about 2 billion tons of coal last year.
 A ceremony is being held to celebrate the start of a hydropower-project construction in Southwest China, November 26,2006. [newsphoto]  |
About 25 million tons of carbon dioxide and 30,000 tons of sulphur dioxide emissions will be eliminated thanks to the new project, according to project sources. Emissions of carbon dioxide were about 4 billion tons in 2004; and sulphur dioxide, 25 million tons last year.
As the river section where the project is being built is habitat for some rare species of fish, Fan said an aquatic protection zone and a station for fry spawning and release are being planned.
The Ministry of Agriculture announced on Friday that it had started a two-year survey on rare aquatic resources in the upper reaches of the Yangtze, including those at the Xiangjiaba section.
Like the Xiluodu project, the Xiangjiaba project would also play a role in flood control, irrigation and navigation, and help retain silt and so reduce sedimentation in the Three Gorges reservoir, according to CTGPC official Zhou Shuangchao.
Nearly 90,000 people from six counties, three each from Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, will have to make way for the Xiangjiaba project.
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