China: Another dammed gorge

Even as the main dam of the mammoth Three Gorges reservoir, the world’s largest hydroelectric project, was completed in late May several months ahead of schedule, China is gearing up to launch another massive Yangtze River dam-building project.

Sandwiched between the towering majesty of the Jade Dragon and Haba Snow Mountains in the northwestern part of Yunnan province, Tiger Leaping Gorge is one of the world’s deepest river gorges. Here about 1,500 kilometers upstream from the Three Gorges Dam, the Jinsha River (as the Yangtze is known in its upper reaches) thunders its way through the 18km-long gorge with, as yet, untamed power.

.. rather than emulating this rare environmentally friendly success story, plans are afoot to dam and tame the Jinsha River.

Yu Xiaogang, founder of Green Watershed and winner of the Goldman environmental award for 2006, said the formal announcement for the plan to construct a dam on the gorge was made in 2003. The project, which according to local officials will have the capacity to generate 20 million kilowatts of electricity once finished, is a joint venture between the provincial government of Yunnan and a subsidiary of the China Huaneng Group – one of the largest state-owned enterprises in the power sector.

Pre-project planning has been ongoing for the past few years, including geological surveys and the measuring of the homes and land of those that will need to be relocated. An environmental impact assessment (EIA) and social impact assessment (SIA), required by Chinese law for any large hydroelectric project, are being carried out.

The essential problem Yu points out is that all of this is being done in total secrecy. The SIA is supposed to involve the participation of people who will be affected by the dam. In reality none of the farmers who will be forced to move have been given any information regarding compensation or the scheduling for the dam. “We have repeatedly requested information from the hydroelectric company but only received silence in response,” said one local guesthouse owner.

Asia Times