China’s Three Gorges Dam has caused a host of ills that must be “urgently” addressed, the government has said, in a rare admission of problems in a project it has long praised as a world wonder.
The State Council acknowledged the environmental, social and geological problems in a statement issued late on Wednesday after a meeting on the hydroelectric project’s future presided over by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶).
“While the Three Gorges project has brought great and comprehensive benefits, there are problems that must be urgently resolved in the smooth relocation of residents, ecological protection and preventing geological disasters,” it said.
The dam has also “impacted” downstream shipping, irrigation and water supplies, the statement said.
Construction began in 1993 on the US$22.5 billion dam on the Yangtze River — the world’s largest hydroelectric dam — and the project in central China began generating power in 2008.
Authorities have hailed it as a major new clean energy source and a way to tame the notoriously flood-prone Yangtze, China’s -longest river.
However, critics have long warned of its environmental, social and other costs.
About 1.4 million people were displaced to make way for the dam and its huge reservoir, which has put several cultural heritage sites deep underwater.
Chinese experts and officials have warned of the potential for seismic disturbances — including landslides and mudflows — caused by the massive weight of the reservoir’s water on the region’s geology.
Environmentalists have long cautioned that the reservoir would serve as a giant catchment for China’s notorious pollution, ruining water quality.
The government said last August that billions of US dollars would be needed to address environmental damage along the river, including sewage treatment.
The statement from the State Council said the government would step up efforts to ensure prosperous new lives for the displaced and address water pollution and geological risks, but gave no specifics of any new policies.
Torrential rains and resulting flooding in last summer washed huge quantities of trash and other debris into the river, sparking a major clean-up effort.
State media reports said the garbage was so thick in places that it could be walked on and threatened to clog the dam.
China is relying on hydroelectric power as a major component in its energy mix as it seeks to meet soaring power needs. It has dozens of dams either under construction or on the drawing board, according to state media reports.
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
RSS