Wall of Three Gorges Dam rises to full height
(AP)
Updated: 2006-05-17 19:59
Launched in 1993, the dam has gone ahead despite complaints about its high
cost and warnings of environmental damage, including the accumulation of silt
and pollution in its 660-kilometer-long (410-mile-long) reservoir.
Officials claim it will provide huge benefits in flood control and energy
generation. They say they can effectively deal with environmental hazards.
"In general, we have paid attention to these kind of problems and the
government has taken various measures," Wang said. "I think we can handle this
kind of problem properly."
China earlier this month announced it would move another 80,000 people this
year from areas to be flooded by rising waters behind the dam.
The evacuees are among roughly 1.3 million moved to make way for the US$22
billion dam - the world's biggest project of its kind.
Mostly farmers, they will be resettled in newly built villages on high ground
beside the dam, although many who have already moved have complained of a lack
of farmland or other economic opportunities around their new homes.
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