[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
dam-l "Questioning Three Gorges Dam" The New York Times
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/29mon1.html
March 29, 1999
Questioning Three Gorges Dam
Forum
In China, where even a slight relaxation in suppression of debate can
indicate a softening of official policy, it is encouraging that some
publications have cast an increasingly critical eye on the Three Gorges Dam
being built on the Yangtze River. The official line is that there is no
turning back on a project that will destroy one of the world's great scenic
areas, inundate hundreds of archeological sites and force 1.3 million
people to resettle elsewhere when the dam's 400-mile reservoir floods towns
and farmlands. But the insoluble social, environmental and technical
problems that have plagued the project cannot be wished away, and they may
now be getting some consideration.
The dam has been a matter of internal disagreement within the Communist
Party for some time. As far back as 1956, a vice minister of electric
power, Li Rui, produced a report arguing for smaller dams on tributaries of
the Yangtze rather than a 600-foot behemoth at the Three Gorges.
In 1992, when the final vote to approve the Three Gorges project was taken
in the National People's Congress, a third of the delegates abstained or
voted against it, even though the dam was championed by Li Peng, who was
then Prime Minister. But all public debate on the project has been banned
since the Tiananmen demonstrations in 1989.
So it is noteworthy that the Chinese journal Strategy and Management, a
publication with some links to the Government, printed an article by a
scholar under a pseudonym detailing the failure of resettlement efforts so
far, and the extreme problems of relocating hundreds of thousands of people
into steep hillsides that are barely habitable. In February, People's
Daily, the party-controlled paper, ran articles on engineering issues and
problems with excavating cultural relics that would be destroyed in the
flood zone. Other papers have reported on official corruption connected to
the project. Chinese media reports have also noted that existing
flood-control systems and older dams are neglected and in danger of
collapse as attention is diverted to new projects like Three Gorges.
Last December, Prime Minister Zhu Rongji, who is considered neutral on the
project, raised concerns about the project's safety and suggested it may be
necessary to bring in international experts to monitor the engineering. Li
Peng, who now heads the National People's Congress, is expected to fight
any retreat on the project. But the thaw in repression of criticism
suggests that altering and even halting the project may yet be possible.
That is why it is crucial for American financial institutions to refrain
from underwriting bonds for Chinese entities, like the State Development
Bank, that finance construction of the dam. China cannot finance the dam,
which is expected to cost well over $25 billion, without foreign capital.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank and the World Bank have refused to support the
project because of its disastrous environmental and social consequences.
The world is beginning to change its views on large dams. The World Bank
has sponsored creation of the independent World Commission on Dams to
assess the effectiveness of such projects and alternatives, with a report
due next year. Major dams have been stopped in mid-construction in
Malaysia, India and Eastern Europe when the governments found that the
benefits were uncertain and the costs enormous.
The Three Gorges Dam is a throwback to failed development strategies of
decades past. This is an important moment to show China's leaders that the
international community wants no part of this destructive, gargantuan
project.
Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company