Addressing a plenary meeting of the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee (TGPCC) under the State Council, the premier urged the builders to undertake their historic mission with a lofty sense of responsibility.

Zhu, also head of the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee, added that the resettlement of local people from the area of China's largest hydro-power project to other provinces and cities should be further encouraged, while efforts should still be made to readjust the industrial structures of the enterprises removed from the dam area so as to realize coordinated development in the economic and social aspects as well as in ecological and environmental construction.

Wu Bangguo, vice-premier and deputy head of the TGPCC, and Qian Zhengying, leader of the project's quality supervision group, also attended the session.

The session fully confirmed the achievements and progress made since the project was launched in 1993, and concluded that the quality of the comprehensive construction of the project is well guaranteed.

By the end of April this year, the Three Gorges Project had completed the main-frame earth and stone work totaling 146.76 million cubic meters, and 16.12 million cubic meters of concrete pouring work.

So far, some 320,000 people living in the dam area have been resettled, and 18.19 million square meters of housing have been built for them.

Some 690 enterprises have been either relocated elsewhere or closed down for various reasons, such as bankruptcy or failure to meet the state's required environmental standards.

(People's Daily 06/04/2001)