The Economist Intelligence Unit
February 7, 2006

‘Along with the Three Gorges Dam project’s financial burden comes enormous social and environmental costs.’

Along with the Three Gorges Dam project’s financial burden comes enormous social and environmental costs. When full, the reservoir will flood 137 cities and towns, and displace 1.1-1.3m people. By the end of 2001, the Chongqing government had already relocated 330,000 villagers and aims to move a further 170,000 by the end of next year. Hubei province has relocated some 90,000 or so. Most are being moved into new towns nearby, but 125,000 are to leave the region altogether – some going to Shanghai, others to Xinjiang. Officially, each family is to receive land or an apartment, and financial compensation of about Rmb10,000 (US$1,200) per family. Yet much of this has not been delivered. In 2000, government auditors reported that some Rmb473m (US$57m) had been stolen from the resettlement fund. This is some 9% of the fund’s total. Critics claim the relocation programme is a shambles. Four villagers were arrested in March 2001, and remain in jail, for protesting against corruption and resettlement. There are also significant environmental concerns. In a recent report, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) made a rare criticism, noting that the incidence of riverbank collapses and landslides in the dam area of the Yangtze is on the rise. On a large scale, these could cause tidal waves strong enough to breech or destabilise the dam. SEPA also claimed that no effective measures had been taken to deal with waste. This, and the water pollution it will cause, is a huge problem. According to Chongqing’s Centre for Controlling Infectious Diseases, the soon-to-be-flooded area contains 178 waste dumps (containing some 2.8m tonnes of garbage), 300,000 sq metres of public toilets, 1,500 abattoirs and 41,000 graves. A recent official survey, quoted in the local newspaper “Southern Weekend,” has disclosed that the site also contains over 120 “sources of radioactive debris”. The clean-up campaign, which began only in January this year, is due to end in May 2003. This will not be sufficient. In addition to waste on the ground, 4.4bn cu metres of waste water, 6.7m tonnes of domestic waste and 10m tonnes of solid industrial waste is discharged upstream of the dam every year. Beijing has pledged 146 water-purification plants and 161 waste-treatment centres by 2010 If they are not built or are ineffective, however, drinking and irrigation water will be severely affected.