Slightly higher construction costs on the Three Gorges scheme were among a minority of project weaknesses identified as being mainly due to the long build time, unclear rules and insufficiently strong internal controls, according to a report from China’s National Audit Office.
The latest 700MW turbine-generator at the Three Gorges project in China has just completed 72 hours of test runs, taking the total number of units in operation to 16.
China’s State Council has approved an additional 10 billion yuan (US$1.32 billion) in relocation money for the residents who move from the Three Gorges area, Xinhua news agency reported today.
This money will be added to the current 53.5 billion yuan of relocation fees, said the Three Gorges Project Construction Commission under the Cabinet. Up to 84 percent of the additional fees will be spent on residents in Chongqing Municipality, where most migrant residents are from.The remainder will be used for people in Hubei Province.
Editor Shi Hanbing delivers a scathing reaction to the recently released Three Gorges dam
audit, and calls on the auditor general to explain how a project with
so many problems received a passing grade.
(June 2, 2008) China could suffer electricity blackouts this summer in its eastern, southern, and central areas as demand rises ahead of supply, a senior official of the power regulator has warned.
(June 2, 2008) The Three Gorges Dam remains safe from the May 12 quake that hit Sichuan province, a senior dam official said Sunday.
(June 1, 2008) Chinese soldiers and engineers have completed a spillway from an earthquake-created lake that was threatening to burst its banks in the central county of Beichuan, state-run news agency Xinhua reported Sunday.
(May 31, 2008) View pdf
Floodwater releases from China’s Three Gorges dam has inundated the banks of Dongting Lake downstream, causing billions of rats to flee into surrounding fields, devouring 6,000 square miles of rice crop, according to the UK-based Telegraph.
(May 31, 2008) Read here about the effect of earthquakes on dams… and vice versa.
(May 31, 2008) The Richter scale provides an objective way of measuring and comparing the size of earthquakes using a mathematical device.
(May 30, 2008) Top political advisor, Jia Qinglin, has inspected quake-affected Yingxiu Town and Dujiangyan City. He asked locals about their living conditions after the earthquake.
(May 30, 2008) The overall environmental quality in China’s earthquake-ravaged southwestern Sichuan Province has remained “stable” and water quality eligible for drinking, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Friday.
(May 30, 2008) Chinese scientists say that even before a final accounting can be made in the earthquake in Sichuan Province, one thing is already painfully evident: The huge death toll in the disaster stems from a failure to heed clear warnings of a devastating earthquake in the area
International Water Power & Dam Construction reports that Alstom has successfully installed three 700-MW turbine-generators on the right bank for its client, Yangtze Power Company. With 14 units already installed on the left bank, a total of 17 units have been brought online since 2003. The last nine units will be brought online in the coming months.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
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