CBS
June 21, 2006

For many Chinese, dream dam is a nightmare

Beijing: China recently passed a milestone in the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. It is the largest dam in the world and the controversy surrounding it is as big as the construction. The milestone is the pouring of the last concrete, finishing the main wall of the world’s largest dam. More work remains until the dam and all its power plants are running by 2009. Chinese leaders started dreaming of this dam almost a century ago and construction has been going on for a decade. But it comes at a price. The area surrounding the dam is known for the beauty of the Three Gorges where it’s located. Chinese officials say more than a million people were relocated to higher ground. They had no choice in the matter. And despite a massive effort to save archeological sites, much is now lost forever. “Very bad situation, terrible,” says Dai Qing, one of China’s few outspoken critics of the dam. She sees it as an environmental disaster. “Cost is terrible because of environment and forced resettlements.”