(June 12, 2009) China Environment Ministry has suspended the construction of two hydropower dams in the upper Yangtze River region. The ministry has suspended because of the construction work was started without the necessary environmental assessments, which is illegal. These hydropower dams require additional environmental reviews to proceed. These hydropower dams are part of a projected CNY200 billion hydropower project along the Jinsha River tributary in southwest China.

The Environment Ministry said that without its approval, Huadian Power International Corp. Ltd. and Huaneng Power International, Inc. (Huaneng Power) have begun blocking the middle reaches of the river in January 2009.

“To protect the management of the environment and to punish the violation of the environment and illegal acts regarding the environment, the environmental ministry decided to suspend the construction projects in the middle reaches of the Jinsha River,” said Spokesman Tao Detian.

Tao further added that the dams have large impacts on communities both upstream and downstream. Hence the companies must take into consideration the ecology of the Lijiang area.

China intends to construct 12 hydropower projects along the 1,423-mile Jinsha River. The river flows from northern Qinghai province down to Yunnan and Sichuan provinces.

The electricity output from these stations is projected to be equivalent to the output from the Three Gorges Dam in central China.

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Energy Business Review, Staff Reporter, June 12, 2009