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| July 26, 2000 | atimes.com | ||
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China
Corruption claims rise around Three Gorges Dam By Antoaneta Bezlova BEIJING - The world's largest hydro-electric dam project, China's Three Gorges Dam, is being bombarded with protest and criticism in a country where public discussions are few and far between. In a sign of civil defiance last week, 53 senior Chinese engineers and academics petitioned the government for a second time this year, warning that the megaproject is beset with technical and economical problems. The letter warns President Jiang Zemin that Three Gorges Dam officials are courting disaster by altering the initial operating plan of the dam, construction of which began in 1994. In an effort to maximize power output from the dam and offset its huge construction cost, officials in charge are planning to fill the reservoir within the first six years of operation. According to the petitioners, this violates a 1992 resolution by the National People's Congress, China's parliament, which promised to keep the reservoir low for an initial period of 10 years. Raising the water level within the first six years would increase the burden of resettling people, forcing a ''staggering number of 500,000 [additional] people'' out of their homes, said the petition. It would also block navigation of the Yangtze River by increasing siltation at Chongqing port. The original operating plan, which envisaged a low-level reservoir, would still generate benefits while dramatically cutting resettlement costs, argued the petition written by Lu Qinkan, a retired Ministry of Water Resources engineer. Sticking to the original scheme would also save three county seats, four large factories, and many cultural and historical sites from submergence. ''This is our second petition urging the central government to respect the 1992 resolution,'' the letter said. It went on to present evidence of how in 1997 Three Gorges officials quietly changed parliament's resolution regarding the dam's operating plan. This evidence of malfeasance is the latest in a stream of allegations of mismanagement and rampant corruption that have plagued the dam during the past 20 months. Even the tightly-controlled state media have begun leaking accounts of corruption in connection with the project, an indication of public suspicion about the controversial dam. In January, the People's Daily, the Communist Party's flagship newspaper, reported that state auditors had implicated at least 14 people in a US$57 million embezzlement ring which was diverting funds earmarked for resettling residents displaced by the dam. One of those involved in the case was later sentenced to death. That same month, a top executive with the project's largest subcontractor was charged with embezzling $24 million by importing hundreds of used trucks, bulldozers, excavators and loading vehicles instead of new ones. The most serious allegations of graft came just two months ago. The head of a company involved in the construction, the Three Gorges Economic Development Corp, was reported by a Hong Kong newspaper in May to have disappeared along with more than $120 million. The South China Morning Post revealed that Jin Wenchao, the company boss, got the money by selling jobs in his corporation and taking out loans supposedly in support of the Three Gorges Dam. Jin's son and daughter have also been accused of acquiring loans to set up fictitious businesses, the report said. The revelations of corruption follow earlier reports of shoddy workmanship. Last year, Premier Zhu Rongji described many bridges and related infrastructure for the dam as ''tofu scum'' and ordered them ripped out. Just three years before the first phase of the $24 billion dam comes into operation, experts are questioning more than ever the wisdom of the project. A report the Probe International at the end of 1999 foresees a ''death spiral'' of bankruptcy and stranded investments even before the dam's completion. Already, estimates of the real cost of the project, which has spiraled as construction proceeds, reach as high as $70 billion. ''Electric power from the dam will cost at least two times more than power from the new high-efficiency gas turbines and cogeneration plants,'' predict the authors of the Probe report. This is aggravated by the fact China is experiencing a glut of electricity. New nuclear and thermal plants are scheduled to come on line, making it even more difficult for Three Gorges to sell the power it will produce. Officials say the project is crucial to control disastrous summer flooding, which last year destroyed 5 million homes. But critics contend the dam will achieve little in the way of flood control because of rapid sedimentation along the Yangtze and in the dam's reservoir. (Inter Press Service) |
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