Probe International Special Report: Grainne Ryder argues that China’s new electricity regulator should initiate a full-cost review of state dam-building in earthquake-prone Yunnan province.
Henan dam fails to find customers
(May 14, 2006) China’s US$4 billion (HK$31 billion) dam in Henan province across the Yellow River has been unable to find customers for its electricity, according to its vice-general manager, Wang Xianwu.
China planning nuclear blasts to build giant hydro project
(May 14, 2006) Chinese leaders are drawing up plans to use nuclear explosions, in breach of the international test-ban treaty, to blast a tunnel through the Himalayas for the world’s biggest hydroelectric plant.
Large hydropower plant to be build in Yunnan
(May 8, 2006) China is speeding up the preparation for its second largest hydro power plant in southwest China’s Yunnan Provinces along the Lancang River.
Nu River: Fact box
(April 25, 2006) Background information on the plans to dam the Nu River, one of only two major rivers in China unfragmented by dams.
Nu River champion wins prestigious environmental award
(April 25, 2006) Yu Xiaogang, who has won a 2006 Goldman Environmental Prize, led a group of Nu valley farmers on a field trip two years ago to visit the Manwan dam on the Lancang (Mekong) River. The visitors were shocked at the destitution they found.
Ertan hydroelectric power plant seeks loan extension
(April 6, 2006) Ertan is asking for a 10-year deferral of loan repayments, including some to the World Bank. Since opening in 1998, the Ertan dam has lost an average of US$145 million annually due to an electricity glut in Sichuan province.
75,000 people to be relocated as part of Longtan Power Station project
(April 1, 2006) Longtan Power Station will be second in size to the Three Gorges dam but officials say it will require far fewer people to be relocated.
Water power everywhere: China building another world-class hydropower station
(March 30, 2006) In the pattern of the Longtan Power Station and the Three Gorges Power Station, China is set to start building another world-class hydropower station before the end of this year – the Xiaowan Power Station at Lancang River in Yunnan province.
Chongqing unveils plan for two Yangtze dams
(March 22, 2006) Chongqing, the sprawling municipality at the upstream end of the Three Gorges reservoir, has revealed a plan to build two big dams on the main channel of the Yangtze River, the Chongqing Morning Post (Chongqing chenbao) reported yesterday [Mar 21].
Yangtze/Jinsha dams: Fact box
(March 21, 2006) Information on just a few of the scores of dams planned for the Yangtze and Jinsha (as the upper Yangtze is called).
Edict banning logging proves no match for greed, poverty
(March 7, 2006) The China Yangtze Three Gorges Project Development Corporation announced this year it would build two giant dams on the Golden Sands River, which it says are urgently needed to trap sediment that would otherwise flow into the Three Gorges reservoir.
Nu valley residents miss the boat
(March 4, 2006) China’s top environmental agency last week issued a set of “provisional guidelines” on the public’s right to participate in decision-making on large projects such as big dams.
Downstream groups back a free-flowing Nu River
(October 19, 2005) As controversy swirls in China around development plans for the Nu River in Yunnan province, 90 environmental and community groups in Burma and Thailand have lodged their own appeal with Beijing to keep the pristine international river free of dams.
The villagers who seek to safeguard Shangri-La
(September 29, 2005) ‘The government talks about environmental protection being a priority, so why then do we have to move away from this beautiful valley at the expense of the environment?’ – A villager’s lament in a CCTV documentary on Tiger Leaping Gorge.
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