Interfax
August 14, 2006

To avoid the possibility of corruption and the withholding of payments by local governments, the new subsidy to 22 million people displaced by China’s dams and reservoirs will be paid directly into special savings accounts, officials say,

Shanghai: The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has drawn up new rules aimed at improving rates of compensation offered to more than 22 mln migrants displaced during the construction of hydropower projects. The amendments, effective from September 1, will provide an additional RMB 600 (USD 75) to each resettled migrant for 20 years, said the NDRC in a notice on Sunday. The new rates of compensation will be funded by the electricity price rises, it said. The NDRC lifted the price of electricity by an average of RMB 0.0249/kWh (USD 0.0062/kWh) at the end of June. Part of that was specifically earmarked for the relocation of migrants, but only to those displaced by new electricity projects, the commission said. In order to avoid the possibility of corruption and the withholding of payments by local governments, the money will be paid directly into special savings accounts, the NDRC said.