China completed construction of the world's largest dam today in
the Three Gorges area, central China's Hubei Province, signifying a milestone
accomplishment of major structure of the mammoth Three Gorges water
control project that aims to tame the flood-prone Yangtze River,
the nation's longest.
At 2:00 PM, the final concrete was poured for the
2,309-meter-long, 185-meter-high main wall of the Three Gorges Dam,
which by then began to have capacity of holding water.
The concrete placement of the dam's main section was completed
10 months ahead of schedule, which will enable the dam to start its
role in power generation, flood control and shipping improvement in
2008, one year ahead of designated time.
After the cofferdam is demolished on June 6, the dam's main wall
will formally begin to hold water, protecting 15 million people and
1.5 million hectares of farm land downstream against flooding,
which had haunted the Yangtze River valley for thousands of years.
Upon the demolition, a new landscape featuring a reservoir with a
serene water surface behind the spectacular dam will gradually come
into being along with planned rises of the water level.
The Three Gorges, which consist of Qutang, Wuxia and Xiling
gorges, extend for about 200 km on the upper and middle reaches of
the Yangtze. They have become a popular world-class tourist
destination noted for beautiful natural landscapes and a great
number of historical and cultural relics. This section of the
Yangtze has a narrow river course that is inconvenient for shipping
but boasts abundant hydroelectric resources.
As China's longest and the world's third longest, the Yangtze
River, together with the Yellow River, nurtured the Chinese
civilization. However, its annual overflow has since long
threatened lives and properties of residents along its valley. The
latest deluge happened in 1998, which claimed about 1,000 lives and
incurred approximately 100 billion yuan (US$12.5 billion) in
economic losses.
The Three Gorges project was initially envisaged in 1918 by Sun
Yat-sen, the forerunner of China's democratic revolution. And after
more than half a century's debates and investigation it was finally
approved in 1992 by the National People's Congress (NPC), China's
top legislature. It is schemed to function in flood control, to
generate clean energy and to benefit shipping, with flood control
as its major effect. Upon completion in 2008, the project will help
the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River valley to
withstand deluges that can be seen every 100 years.
The project, the world's largest, recruited 26,000 people,
including professionals and specialists from 50-odd countries and
regions, at the peak of its construction. On the basis of
absorption of foreign advanced technologies, the project has set
100-plus world records.
The project boasts a total electricity generating capacity
of 18.2 million kilowatts, an equivalent of the energy
produced by a coal mine with an annual production capacity of 50
million tons or by an oilfield with a crude oil output of 25
million tons per year.
The project's main dam involves concrete placement of 16 million
cubic meters, smashing the 12.57-million-cu-m record set by the
Itaipu Hydropower Station on the border of Brazil and Paraguay.
(Xinhua News Agency May 20, 2006)
