(August 31, 1999) Yichang, 31st August: A group of experts from the Harza Company of the United States were invited today to inspect the Three Gorges Project at the middle reaches of the Yangtze River [Chang Jiang] for a second time. These experts may be hired to supervise the construction of the world’s largest water control project, the Three Gorges Project, which combines hydroelectric power generation and navigation functions, will cost 203.9bn yuan and will take 17 years to complete.

At the construction site of the Three Gorges Project, their countryman, Mick Mckinon, has been working attentively from a platform more than 100 metres above the ground. Mckinon is just one of the first five foreign supervisors who have been hired from the Atkinson Construction Company of the US since last May by the China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation to supervise concrete pouring for the mammoth dam on the Yangtze and consult in this regard. In the meantime, the developer has also signed a contract with an alliance formed by the National Power Company of France and the French Technical Supervision Bureau to hire experts there to supervise the manufacture of the project’s first 14 generators in Canada and Brazil.

In addition to the five American supervisors hired for the Three Gorges Project, a dozen supervisors were also hired from the French alliance to work in the factories of Canada and Brazil to oversee the manufacture of the generators. The Harza Company has been busy discussing details with the Three Gorges Project developer about consultancy and supervision of the project. There are clear advantages to hiring foreign supervisors to stem corruption in construction activities. Moreover, He Gong, deputy general manager of the China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, said, “Hiring foreign supervisors is conducive to coordinating relations between the developer and foreign equipment contractors, and foreign supervisors can set forth more objective suggestions as they are not easily affected by external factors.”

Whenever major problems occur, reports from the foreign supervisors will be submitted directly to the Three Gorges Project Committee of the State Council, which is currently headed by Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji. Mick Mckinon, with more than three decades of experience in building water control projects, and four other supervisors from the Atkinson Construction Company also direct the installation and operation of imported concrete-pouring equipment. At a high-level conference on project quality held in June, Mckinon and his foreign colleagues were invited to deliver reports on special topics. “China is capable of solving major technical problems in the Three Gorges Project, but does not pay enough attention to minor details,” Mckinon criticized, referring to poor lighting at night and the way materials are stored at the construction site. These minor problems were later corrected by the construction companies.

China introduces developer responsibility, construction contracting and construction supervision in the course of building the Three Gorges Project. Supervisors are responsible for quality control, constructions plans, and the budget. Supervisory management has been used in construction projects for over 300 years abroad, but in China, this practice was introduced just a decade ago. The monthly salaries of the five foreign supervisors are equivalent to those of 500 Chinese supervisors together. Though foreign supervisors have brought competition pressure to Chinese supervisors, they have also won respect for their work. Yang Pusheng, supervisor-in-chief with the Three Gorges Project of the Yangtze River Water Conservancy Committee under the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources, said, “Foreign supervisors are dedicated to their posts and are strict with management work.” He Gong, deputy general manager of the China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, added that “the Three Gorges Dam is an open project, so we will continue to employ more foreign experts to help supervise and give consultancy to the construction in a bid to integrate China’s fine traditions with advanced world management concepts and make sure that the Three Gorges Project will last for a thousand years.”

Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China news agency).

BBC Worldwide Monitoring, August 31, 1999