The China Three Gorges Corp, China's largest hydropower developer, is ready to invest 400 billion yuan to build four hydropower plants in the lower reaches of the Jinsha River, the 21st Century Business Herald reported Tuesday.
About 60-70% of the 400 billion, twice the overall investment of the Three Gorges Dam, will come from bank loans, the report said, citing Li Jing, an official with the state-owned company.
The 400 billion yuan will be used to build the dams and also for related issues such as relocation of residents and environmental protection, Li added.
The Jinsha River is the westernmost of the major headwater streams of the Yangtze River in southwestern China. After completion, the four super dams will provide electricity to the country's eastern and central regions, according to the report.
Besides the four super dams, more hydropower plants have been built along the Jinsha River. The subsequent relocations and ecological issues, triggered by the intensive construction of super dams, have attracted a lot of attention from the media and the public.
Intensive construction of super dams
The four hydropower stations, with a total installed capacity of 43 million kilowatts, will supply 190 billion kilowatts of electricity a year after completion, said the China Three Gorges Corp in its first social responsibility report on June 19, China News Service reported.
The China Three Gorges Corp was authorized to develop the four super dams in 2002. One of the four dams, the Xiluodu hydropower station began construction in 2005, and will start operating in 2013. The dam, with a total installed capacity of 13.86 million kilowatts, will be China's second largest hydroelectric plant.
The Xiangjiaba hydropower station, which began construction in 2006, will start operating in 2012. The construction of the Wudongde and Baihetan hydropower stations is still under preparation.
Besides the four super dams, eight hydropower stations, with a total installed capacity of 8.98 million kilowatts and investments by the China Huadian Corporation, are located in the headwaters of the river. Moreover, another eight hydroelectric stations, with a total installed capacity 20.58 million kilowatts, are also under construction.
The intensive construction of hydropower plants has sparked controversy over issues such as forced relocation of local residents, environmental protection, geological disasters, and climate change. The media and the public have questioned whether the developer's 400-billion-yuan investment is enough to solve all the problems.
Several ecological issues
The four plants will have a huge influence on the aquatic environment of the Jinsha River, the China Business News said in June, quoting a report published by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), an international non-governmental organization.
The report said after the dams' completion, the river flow in dry seasons will increase but it will decrease during the flood peak periods. Moreover, the dams will also break the continuity of the river.
Meanwhile, the change in flow will also alter fishes' living environment, therefore impacting their spawning and reproduction.
The relocation issue
The one-time compensation provided by hydropower developers is hard to support migrants' long-term living, said an official from the Price Monitoring Center of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), infzm.com reported.
Hydropower developers should raise their compensations by half or even two thirds, he added.
So far, less than 10% of the 320,000 migrants have been relocated to their new homes for construction of the four plants, but the developer's resettlement funds are almost completely used up, the report said, citing an insider.
Parts of the 400-billion yuan investment, with at least 60% from banks, will be spent on the resettlement of migrants, said Li.
In addition, the Energy Bureau of the NDRC set up an office in 2010 to coordinate the migration work between Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces, where the Jinsha River is located.
