The Chinese government has laid aside billions yuan to shun the potential threat of disaster-prone landforms at the Three Gorges areas, where the world's largest hydro-power project is under construction, a senior government official said Tuesday.

The site of the Three Gorges Hydro-Power Project in central China will be still prone to geological disasters after the project is completed in 2009, said Shou Jiahua, vice-minister of land and resources at a press conference held here Tuesday.

The reservoir will begin to store water to 135 meters high in June next year. The water level will increase to 175 meters in 2009.

"The increase of water level is likely to break the original geological stability and intrigue collapse of karst landforms along the banks," said the vice-minister.

Over 2,490 sites, which may bring significant threats of collapse and landslides, have been found in the reservoir area in a joint investigation carried out by the Ministry of Land and Resources and the Executive Office of the State Council Three Gorges Project Construction Committee.

The Chinese Government is greatly concerned with the prevention of geological disasters in the Three Gorges, and has planned to lay aside 4 billion yuan (US$483 million) of funds for the purpose between June 2001 and June 2003. By the end of July this year, 2.9 billion has been in place, said Shou.

She said that with the investment, 1,168 dangerous sites will be excluded the potential threat either by engineering treatment or by resettlement of residents.

Of the 5,300-km-long bank of the reservoir area, 440 km bank have dangerous sites, among which 139 kilometers should be controlled by engineering protection, the official said.

The Three Gorges area has been brought under the state's primary soil erosion treatment areas since the start of 1990, because of its fragile geological features in accompany of frequent torrential rains.

Over the last decade, the Chinese Government invested over 200 million yuan (US$24 million) to treat soil erosion in the area. China's major environmental programs in the dam area, such as the logging ban of virgin forests along the Yangtze River and the "Grain for Green" project, have all contributed to build an ecological bulwark to ensure the environmental safety in the project area.

(Xinhua News Agency September 10, 2002)