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dam-l German Export Credit Agency provides guarantee for Siemens



Monday 1 November 1999

Die Tageszeitung

Controversial Dam Supported

Minister of the Economy Muller: Federal Government gives export guarantee to 
Siemens for the Three Gorges dam in China. Protests on account of the 
resettlement of two million people.

Berlin (AP/taz) The Federal Government has granted an export guarantee for the 
construction of the controversial Three Gorges dam on the Yangtze river in 
China. Minister of the Economy Werner Muller said the responsible committee of 
the Federal government has approved the relevant request from Siemens and 
Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW).

According to the Minister of the Economy the guarantee, equivalent to 97
million Deutschemarks, covers financial risks of the supply of 15
transformers, with 
which the electricity will be distributed from the hydropower plant. Siemens 
received the approval on 12 October.

Muller, who set off on Saturday with chancellor Gerhard Schroder  on an
official visit to China and Japan, explained that it was not concerned with
essential 
parts of the dam but merely with the periphery of the project. The decision on 
the guarantee had already been reached a few weeks ago.

A spokesperson for the Ministry said the application had come in during the
time of the previous coalition government, which had given an approval in
principle, and that this possibly has led to a legal obligation to Siemens.
When they
were in opposition, SPD and the Greens had condemned any support for the
dam, and 
rejected a first guarantee of the earlier government for turbines and 
generators.

Together with 57 other environmental and human rights organisations, the 
organisation "Weed" demanded that no guarantees be provided for the
construction of the dam. The world's biggest hydropower plant on the
Yangtze river will
flood 1,711 villages, 116 towns, and 1,600 factories. The Chinese officials
plan to 
resettle almost two million people. Environmental organisations like "Weed"
fear enormous damage to nature. In addition a large tourist attraction of the 
country, the much visited valley of the Yangtze river, will be devalued.

In 1997 US engineers, in their expert study, wrote that the rocky edges of the 
future 650 kilometre long reservoir are unstable. Rockfalls and safety
problems for ship transport are to be feared. In addition the construction
of the
dams is timed so tightly that the edifice in the worst case could break and
the water 
flood the homes of millions of people.

The new dam wall of 2,300 metres wide and 185 metres high will hold back the 
third longest river on earth. "When the Three Gorges dam is finished, it will 
surpass by far all the other dams in the world", anticipates the loyal to the 
party-line China Daily.

The cost of the project is estimated at around 75 billion dollars.
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