(February 13, 2006) A former Kenyan anti-corruption czar responsible for distributing a tape that implicates his government in corruption is facing allegations he was a spy for Britain.
Dam migrants to move on schedule
Officials express confidence that 170,000 more people will have been moved out of the Chongqing area by the time the Three Gorges reservoir is filled next June.
Top Lesotho water boss charged
(February 12, 2006) The former top Lesotho official on the Highlands Water Commission, now an influential adviser on water matters with The New Partnership for Africa’s Development, has been charged with bribery involving over R1-million.
Report examines murky funding of power projects
Official funders and commercial banks may publicly withdraw from direct lending for controversial dams such as Three Gorges, but then go ahead and support the same projects indirectly, a new report says.
GAP releases internal World Bank whistleblower analysis
(February 10, 2006) Report from renowned expert outlining improvements made public by GAP.
Debt repudiation possible
(February 10, 2006) Norway plays a key role in efforts to cancel odious debt," says Christian Aid’s Jonathan Glennie. The government and opposition are both open to supporting poor countries repudiate their debt.
Silt levels reported as dropping in Yangtze River
New data on sedimentation show ‘the ecological system along the Yangtze River has obviously improved,’ Xinhua says. ‘We still face a tough task in … consolidating the current achievements,’ a hydrologist is quoted as saying.
Landslide hazard monitoring in China with an example from the Baota landslide, three gorges area
(2006) The purposes of landslide monitoring are applied to analysis, forecasting and control of landslide. The indicators in landslide monitoring include the geological indicators, ground displacement indicators, indicators of displacement in borehole, ground water indicators (pore pressure, ground water table, ground water chemistry), induced factor indicators (weather, human activity), geophysical indicators and geochemical indicators. The techniques in landslide monitoring include extensometer of ground fissures, inclinometer in borehole, global position system, remote sensing and integrated real time monitoring system. A case study of Baota landslide in the enclosed landscape of the three gorges projects of Yangtze river is detailed in this paper.
China's economic facade
‘Officially, China has for some time been claiming growth rates of 7 per cent or more. But information casting doubt on those figures has long been available.’
China demolishes ancient town to make way for the dam
Demolition experts have blown up the last 18 buildings in a 1,700-year-old town due to be flooded by the Three Gorges reservoir.
Why China cooks the books
Melinda Liu writes that “numbers in China are often more of a political than a scientific tool” – an observation that will resonate with anyone who has tried to nail down an accurate Three Gorges resettlement figure.
Fear of mice has Gorges heavies crying for help
Chongqing is appealing for help from specialists around the country to remove mice and rats from the Three Gorges reservoir area. ‘We will hold an open tender for the poison in the near future,’ said an official working to prevent infectious diseases.
American woman sentenced to life in China for fraud
A Chinese-American woman has been sentenced to life in prison for credit fraud of nearly 26 million dollars linked to the Three Gorges dam project, a court official said Wednesday
Don’t forget the people
(February 7, 2006) ‘Along with the Three Gorges Dam project’s financial burden comes enormous social and environmental costs.’
Damned if you do
‘It is hard to make sense of the project from a purely business perspective,’ write analysts at The Economist. ‘The project would not survive in a competitive power market.’ Probe International’s Grainne Ryder is quoted on alternatives to megadams.
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