The amount of freight transported through the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River will be reduced by ten million tons during the construction of a series of locks, local officials said on Wednesday. Construction is scheduled to begin on Friday and continue for one year so the amount of freight passing through the dam will be cut from 26 million tons a year to 16 million tons, said Jin Yihua, director of the Changjiang River Administration of Navigational Affairs (CRANA). Ships will have to travel through in single file, causing a significant reduction in shipment capacity. The CRANA will impose a limit of 29,000 tons of coal per day, said Jin. Coal accounts for 79 percent of the total freight passing downstream through the dam. When there is heavy traffic, vessels loaded with containers and fresh goods will be allowed to pass first, said Jin. The dam, which is 2,309 meters long and 185 meters high, was completed on May 20 this year. Launched in 1993, the Three Gorges Project, built at an estimated cost of 180 billion yuan (approximately 22.5. billion U.S. dollars), will be installed with 26 generators with the combined generating capacity amounting to 18.2 million kw and be able to generate 84.7 billion kwh of electricity annually.