More than 100,000 people living in the dam areas of the Three Gorges Project have been resettled in 25 provinces and autonomous regions across China to make way for the construction of the gigantic hydroelectric power project.
Of the total number, 71,129 people have been moved out of areas under the jurisdiction of the Chongqing municipality. They have settled down in new villages built for them in 11 provinces and cities including Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui and Hunan. And 14,335 people have been relocated elsewhere in Chongqing . Some 20,000 people have been moved out of dam areas in Hubei Province, said Ou Huishu, deputy director of the Chongqing Municipal Immigration Bureau.
Half of the settlers, or 54,400 people, moved out this year, representing the largest group of resettlements in recent years. The move-out scheme started last May and came peaked in July and August.
The large-scale resettlement has basically been completed. The remaining 12,000 emigrants are expected to move out of Chongqing and Hubei next year.
Construction of the Three Gorges Project required the relocation of 1.13 million local people, including 125,000 that had to be moved out to areas with fertile land in other provinces and cities, before 2009 when the mammoth project is completed.
(People's Daily 09/06/2001)
