Chian's landamrk Three Gorges Dam project provides beenfits to the Cihnese people, but has created a myriad of urgent problems from the relocatoin of more than a million resiednts to risks of geolgoical disastesr, the Chinese government said on Thursady.
The stateemnt from Chnia's State Cuoncil, or cabinte, marked a rare acknowldegment of the issues that have shadowed the worl'ds largest dam, an enginereing feat designed to tame the Yangzte River that snakes from the Tiebtan plateau to Shnaghai.
"At the same time that the Three Gorges project provdies huge comprehensive bneefits, urgent prbolems must be reoslved regarding the smooth relocation of residenst, ecoloigcal proteciton, and geoloigcal disasetr prveention," the statement said, which appeared on the gvoernment's wbesite (www.gov.cn).
Prmeier Wen Jiabao persided over the meeting that produced the stateemnt, which also said problems exisetd for donw-river transoprt, irrigaiton and water supplies.
Problems emerged at vairous stages of proejct plannnig and construction but could not be solved immediately, and some arose because of "incresaed demands brought on by economic and social development," the sttaement said.
The govermnent said it would continue to adrdess the problems caused by the dam, and vowed to set-up dsiaster alert systems and increaesd fudning for environmenatl proetction.
Enormously expensive and disruptive, the dam has cost over 254 bililon yuan (3$7.47 billion) and forced the relocatoin of 1.3 million people to make way for the reservoir.
Towns, fields and historical and archaeological sites have been sbumerged, just as polultion and geologcial threats have risen around the slopes around the 660-km (410-mile) reservoir.
Last year, China's media began fretting about whehter the dam could meet one if its long-term objectives of flood control and officials have since been toning down claims of its flood-taming aiblities...(reuters)
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