(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-11-27 22:40

A hydroelectric generator at the Three Gorges Power Plant. The country's largest hydropower project, has generated more than 150 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity since it became operational in 2003. [Xinhua]

To cut pollutant emissions, more than 1,600 factories have been closed down while 190,000 people moved elsewhere. So far, the State Council has approved the allocation of 52.9 billion yuan ($7.15 billion) to subsidize people moving out of the reservoir area, he said.

"We also encouraged other provinces and cities to help the development of their resettlement area and the support fund from them had reached 34.1 billion yuan ($4.6 billion) by the end of last year," Wang Xiaofeng said.

All the money has been used directly on migrants, including relocation compensations, an annual allowance of 600 yuan to each migrant from rural areas and investment in roads, schools and hospitals around their new homes, he said.

In the future, Wang said, the priorities of ecological and environmental protection would focus on the sustainable use of Three Gorges Dam and water pollutant prevention in the Dam areas and its upper reaches, as well as the protection of bio-diversity.

Describing the situation of algae or aquatic weed in the reservoir areas as stable, Wang ruled out the trend of vast outbreak, acknowledging that the governments was watching the situation closely.

Replying to previous Xinhua reports about the "environmental catastrophe" around the Three Gorge areas, Wang said that the hidden troubles and problems he had foreseen at the forum in Wuhan in late September was "not at all unexpected or admitted for the first time by Chinese officials".

This forum heard from Tan Qiwei, vice mayor of Chongqing, who said the shore of the reservoir had collapsed in 91 places and a total of 36 km had caved in.

The forum also heard from Huang Xuebin, head of the Headquarters for Prevention and Control of Geological Disasters in the Three Gorges Reservoir, who echoed that frequent geological disasters have threatened the lives of residents around the reservoir area. Hubei Vice Governor Li Chunming added at the forum that clear water discharged from the Three Gorges Dam has also threatened the safety of the protective embankments downstream.

Wang cited the conclusions made by the State Environmental Protection Administration of China, which said that the Three Gorges had brought more benefits than damages to the local ecology.

"My concern with the problems is based on the stance that we want to build a first-rate hydrological project with first-rate ecology," he said.

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