Huang, also a deputy to the First Session of the 10th National People's Congress, said that approximately 560,000 residents in Chongqing had been moved into new homes by the end of 2002. So far, the work of cleaning up the reservoir bed has been completed to ensure the storage of reservoir water would begin on June 1. In October 2003, the Three Gorges hydropower station will start generating electricity.

The prime factor to the success of the Three Gorges project, the largest of its kind worldwide, now in full swing, is displacement of local population. A total of 1.03 million residents in Chongqing municipality would be displaced to make way for the gigantic project, or 85.5 percent of the total in the whole reservoir area.

The next step of the relocation work, Huang said, would be focused on helping the relocated residents settle down their life, resume production and how to build a relatively better off life.

The Three Gorges project has brought lots of opportunities for development to the counties and cities around the reservoir area. Local residents of such counties as Fengjie, Yunyang and Wushan have moved to new sites, with their living conditions keep improving, noted Huang, adding that about 130,000 residents have been resettled in different regions across the country, with the support of the whole nation.

The relocation effort, which began in 1992, has covered 11 districts and counties in Chongqing, as well as in central Hubei Province. It is estimated that by the end of 2009, the time set for completion of the project, more than 1.13 million people will have to be relocated.

To date, 11 provinces and municipalities in east China and along the Yangtze, the country's longest river, have been designated to accept displaced residents for the upcoming third and fourth phases of the relocation work.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2003)