(January 20, 2002) Construction of the Three Gorges Dam Project is expected to be completed in May this year, nine months earlier than scheduled, the Xinhua News Agency has reported.

Cao Guangjing, vice-manager of China Three Gorges Project Corporation, said the main dam on the right bank of the Three Gorges will have concrete poured to 185 metres above sea level in three months’ time. It will mark the completion of the scheme, which began 12 years ago. With a length of 2,309 metres, the dam aims to prevent flooding, generate power and benefit shipping, Xinhua reported. It is one of the biggest hydropower structures in the world and ranks as a key part of the improvement and development of the Yangtze River. The main dam, due to be completed in May, is located in the area of Xiling Gorge, one of the three gorges of the river, which will control a drainage area of 1 million square kilometres. The whole Three Gorges Dam Project has used a total of 16 million cubic metres of concrete. With the expected completion of the scheme in May, the water storage level will be heightened to 156 metres above sea level from the current 135 metres.

Launched in 1993, the Three Gorges Dam Project, including the 185-metre-high dam and 26 generators on both banks of the Yangtze River, has been built in three phases on the middle reaches of the longest river in China. The preparation and construction of the first phase were carried out between 1993 and 1997. The Yangtze was dammed at the Three Gorges area for the first time on November 8, 1997. Workers began concrete pouring for the dam from the northern bank of the river in late 1998 and completed the 1,600-metre-long structure in October 2002. Concrete pouring for the final section of the dam close to the southern bank, extending 660 metres, began in July 2003. In accordance with the original plan, the Three Gorges Dam Project, with an estimated cost of 180 billion yuan (US$21.7 billion), will also have 26 generators with a combined generating capacity of 18.2 million kilowatt-hours. So far, the workers have successfully installed 14 turbo-generators on the northern bank of the Yangtze in addition to the completion of the dam close to the northern bank. All the 14 turbo-generators on the northern bank have been put into power generation. They generated 49.09 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2005 alone.

China Daily, January 20, 2002