Race to complete China's Three Gorges Dam despite controversy Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source - Mark Graffis Race to complete China's Three Gorges Dam despite controversy By AUDREY RONNING TOPPING (c) Earth Times News Service - June 6 1999 SANDOUPING, China--At this site of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, billows of dust from thousands of bulldozers turn the noon-day sun ashen while colossal red cranes bite into the mountains of slashed earth like giant praying mantis in a sci-fi movie. Some 25,000 workers, wearing rattan hard-hats, toil here around the clock. With three and a half years to go, they are racing to complete the second stage of construction of the world's largest dam. But, strangely enough, officials on location seem unaware that they are in the epicenter of a world wide controversy swirling around them with a persistence comparable to the unrelenting rapids in the river they seek to harness. While extolling the benefits of the biggest monster project they showed no indication, during interviews, that they were cognizant of the risks involved in its construction. Nor did they seem to comprehend the incalculable human costs suffered by the 1.9 million flood refugees evacuating their homes to accommodate the serpentine reservoir. Shi Wen Jia, director of public relations for the project, met our small press group, that had sailed up the Yangtze on the Victoria Princess. First a tour of the exhibition hall depicting every glorious aspect but none of the difficulties facing the project. Large models of the dam are surrounded by photos of China's leaders performing the opening ceremony. Mounted Yangtze River sturgeon, dolphin and other species in danger of extinction by the reservoir are also on display. Then Mr. Shi guided us around the damsite, by bus, stopping at various points of interest to witness history in the making--for better or for worse. On the highest point, overlooking the site, the foundation stone stood by a towering monument to the dam. As far as the eye could see, giant terraces of reddish earth and concrete, many supported by bamboo scaffolding, were crawling with hundreds of vehicles and helmeted workers in blue coveralls leveling surfaces, mixing and pouring concrete. The phenomenal scene was reminiscent of the building of the pyramids or China's other enormous engineering project, the Great Wall. Mr. Shi cut a striking public relations figure with his Hollywood smile but amidst the dusty commotion at the damsite he appeared rather incongruous in his starched white shirt, dark suit and silk tie depicting the peaks of the three gorges. When questioned about the problems of relocation Shi said, "The people are happy to resettle because they are all patriotic citizens and want to help their country. They also know they will get improved housing and fair allowances from the government." "But what would happen to the people who refused to move?" we asked. Shi conferred with the interpreter and after some hesitation replied stiffly "There are no such people." The laborers constructing the dam speak only of the enormous benefits of the project if all goes well. It's purpose is to control floods and generate electricity. At peak load, 26 turbines of 400 tons each, the largest ever built, are expected to generate 84 billion kilowatt-hours of hydroelectric power each year, equivalent to the output of 18 nuclear power plants. Mr. Ho Tien, a rugged brigade foreman with a warm smile said he spoke for his men who were happy to have the opportunity to help the country and be part of such a famous project. Workers at the damsite, like most other Chinese, have not heard the voices of anger and foreboding. But opponents of the project, who have been monitoring all aspects of it and long warned of the dangers, have been recently encouraged by signs that China's top leaders are beginning to confront the wrenching d realities of the project. During a State Council meeting in Beijing May 19 and 20, Prime Minister Zhu Rungji made a highly publicized speech about the problems of resettling the flood refugees who will be driven from their ancestral homes by the dam's 400-mile-long basin. He admitted that severe problems bedevil the dam and announced a major change in resettlement strategy . He cited environmental reasons for the changes and outlined "two policy readjustments" : for relocating people and enterprises. Although the mountains towering above the fertile lands in the Yangtze River Valley were designated as suitable to resettle farmers and factory workers, Zhu reversed the policy stating that because of the reservoir, more farmland will be inundated and that the mountains are too high and steep to be turned into farmland. "Land reclamation of the slopes with an angle greater than 25 degrees must be stopped," he said, "and reclaimed land on such slopes should be gradually restored to forests...If we insist on relocating people in neighboring areas, it will be inevitable that land will be reclaimed from steep slopes, vegetation will be damaged, new soil erosion will occur, the ecological environment will be damaged, and untold troubles will entail." Most Chinese are unaware of these issues because they have been denied access to press reports or books by such critics as the outspoken opponent of the dam, Dai Qing, sometimes called the "Voice of the Three Gorges". In a recent interview she said she was elated by the news. "In 1987, the Propaganda Department issued an edict forbidding anyone to publish articles opposing the project" she said. " Now the Premier himself has criticized it." Another leading critic, Huang Wanli, 87, emeritus professor at the prestigious Qinghua University and prominent engineer who has worked on hydro-electric projects in China and the US since the 1930's wrote his seventh letter to President Jiang Zemin last March pleading with him to scale down the project and avert the threat it poses to hundreds of thousand of people. Many international lending institutions such as the World Bank have refused to help finance the project out of concern for potential environmental damage and risky financial viability. Seismologists warn of the a disastrous flood if the dam should be damaged by man made or natural catastrophe. Many Chinese scientists and other critics, who advocate either abandoning the dam or reducing its size have long been warning about "the untold troubles" the Prime Minister alluded to. But up to this point no one in the government took action. Officials report that 160,000 of the 1.9 million earmarked to move have already been uprooted, but many remain jobless and landless. Reliable private reports say that some people have refused to move, that the slopes where farmers are being sent cannot support farming and that the meager funds to help settlers have often been stolen or wasted. In the next four years, when the reservoir is partially filled, an additional 550,000 people, including poor farmers, factory workers and fisher folk in hundreds of towns are to be relocated above the 175-meter-high waterline of the reservoir. Apart from having their homes and the sacred tombs of their ancestors destroyed the resettlers face fierce hostility from locals in already over populated communities where they must procure new means of livelihoods. Many of these areas have lower standards of living. The Premier stated in his report to the State Council that the forced invasion of the river folk, not attuned to the ways of the mountain people, will inevitably create economic and social upheaval. He proposed that more of the evacuees should be sent to "distant parts" of the country. Some critics are skeptical that sending the displaced to other regions will solve anything. Most of China is already over populated and "distant parts" could mean exile to barren areas of Xinjiang or the steppes of Inner Mongolia. The dispersment of angry refugees could assist the government to prevent organized resistance. Back on the bus Mr. Shi seemed uninformed about world criticism. He said he knew nothing of the charges of corruption or a recent report in Beijing's Workers Daily that his boss, Mr. Lu Youmei, director of the government's Three Gorges Construction and Development Co., had recently announced that foreign engineers will be hired to oversee the construction of the Dam. The report quoted Lu as saying that Chinese inspectors are too susceptible to corruption and too friendly with the officials they are supposed to inspect. Instead, said Yu, they develop "relationships as close as brothers." Asked about press reports that corruption is widely blamed in China for shoddy construction on massive infrastructure projects such as bridges and locks he smiled and assured us that the reports were, " highly exaggerated or not true." Shi also denied a report from an officer on the Victoria Princess who obviously knew more about the problems of the project than officials at the site. The officer told me that the Jiao Jia Bay Bridge that was part of the resettlement project in Hubei Province had collapsed killing many people including soldiers. He also said that other cases of poor-quality construction were being investigated and that there would soon be an investigation of the workmanship at the dam. Mr. Shi said he had not heard of this, which is possible because we later learned the first reports were censored. But an inquiry on May 28-29 confirmed that the 48-meter long stone bridge did indeed break causing 11 deaths and injuring 20 more. Four men responsible for the "low quality of wooden support framework and wrong procedure in construction" were imprisoned by The Badong Peoples Court. About 70,000 workers are emp[loyed on the Three Gorges Project centered around dam that is projected to be 610 feet high and more than a mile wide. The laborers earn RMB1000 ($122.00) per month for an eight hour day while hazardous risk pay can amount to 2000 . They are allotted rough shack housing and adequate food but cannot bring their families. Although wages are low by Western standards, they are considered high in China where the average city worker gets RMB500 to 600 per month. The Three Gorges Project, that the Chinese refer to as the TGP, includes construction of a system of locks large enough to lift 10,000 ton ships as well as dozens of new bridges, highways and miles of dikes. The TGP also involves the costs of moving hundreds of factories and building dozens of new cities. Archeologists, racing against time to rescue the valley's cultural treasures, are pleading for more money to excavate the 8,000 ancient sites destined to be entombed forever in the reservoir's heavy sediment. Cost estimates began at $17.3 billion but opponents say it is now up to $75 billion and rising. Critics claim that already millions have disappeared into the pockets of corrupt officials, both big and small. The collapse of the stone bridge alone cost RMB1.1 million. Sailing upriver we saw new construction on a scale that boggled the imagination - long convoys of barges carried concrete blocks to reinforce miles of dikes that had been destroyed in the recent floods. Above the damsite, where the reservoir will be created in the Three Gorges area, whole cities of white tile, high-rise apartments, are being built on the mountain flanks just above the projected 175-meter water line. They are being connected by modern highways and railroads. The new residents, mostly wealthy officials, will enjoy an ideal view of the placid "Lake Within the Gorges" that will flood the homes of the people below. But critics warn that still waters equal foul waters. They predict the lake will become a cesspool of sewage from the 15-million people living in Chongqing, at the Western terminus of the reservoir. The Yangtze River was bustling with ships bringing tourists on "Last Chance" cruises to experience the wondrous scenery that has inspired generations of poets and painters. The spectacular gorges with their mysterious rock formations resembling a pantheon of deities and mythical beasts have given rise to folklore and legends passed on by peasants, mandarins, and emperors for millennia. The river embodies the mythic image of Old Cathay--the five clawed celestial dragon, symbol of the emperors. Lung Wang, the four clawed dragon king of the water gods, resides in a castle under Goose Tail Rock in Wind Box Gorge. I know this because my father once pointed him out to me. For me, the river holds a sentimental attachment, three generations of my family have lived on its banks. My missionary grandparents fell in love sailing up the Yangtze in a junk from Shanghai to Wuhan, where they married on Christmas Day, 1891. The next spring they sailed in a houseboat through the gorges to Chongqing. As a child I was fascinated by sepia photos of my elegant grandmother in her bustle skirt and high-bottoned boots walking with my grandfather in his velvet-collared Prince Albert suit coat and canvas shoes along the banks of the swirling river. High above on a narrow towpath were dozens of nearly naked trackers in turbans, straw sandals, and harnesses made of braided bamboo attached to the junk below. They strained, often on all fours to pull the houseboat upstream through the foaming rapids. No wonder I felt guilty making the same trip in a comfortable, modern cruise ship. Copyright (c) 1999 The Earth Times All rights reserved. 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