South China Morning Post
June 6, 2006
A group of 53 senior engineers, water management experts and academics has sent a petition to the top leadership urging a rethink on the progress of the Three Gorges Dam project. The petition came as more corruption scandals linked to the gigantic project came to light. The latest concerned a company in Zhengzhou, Henan province, which allegedly embezzled money and loans earmarked for the project. The petition, dated March 3, said the project’s main reservoir should not be filled up by 2009 to allow more time to monitor silting and ease pressure in the resettlement of more than 1.5 million people. It was written by Li Qinkan, a leading hydrologist who worked on the dam’s original feasibility study. About one-third of the signatories are former members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference – the political advisory body – who in the late 1980s urged the State Council not to proceed with the Three Gorges project. The project – building a giant hydropower dam over the Yangtze River near Chongqing – was approved by National People’s Congress in 1992. Under the original plan, the project was expected to cost about 90 billion yuan (HK$84.5 billion). However, it is reported to have soared to more than 200 billion yuan. The petition said officials were wrong to change the original plan, which foresaw restricting water levels to 156 metres for the first 10 years of operation and only raising water to 175 metres between the dam’s 17th and 20th year of operation.