(Recovered and Reloaded)
Four
Benefits of Three Gorges Dam
Vanam
Jwala Narasimha Rao
Metro
India (20-06-2016)
The Chinese government envisaged four goals for the Three Gorges
Dam project-flood control, power generation, navigation and tourism.
Dam building is one of the most important causes for development related
displacement. According to Government of India records, during the last fifty
years, some 3,300 big dams have been constructed in India. Many of them have
led to large-scale eviction of vulnerable groups. For the Sardar Sarovar Dam
more than 4 Lakhs people were affected and Narmada Valley Development Project
affected much more than this. Tehri project in Uttarakhand established in 1979,
affected more than a Lakh of people. Barring a few exceptions, most projects
did not have a clear-cut resettlement plan. Resettlement was undertaken on a
case-to-case basis. To mention a few, there were projects like the
Nagarjunasagar, Hirakud, Tungabhadra and Mayurakshi dams did offer resettlement
in the form of house sites to the displaced but leading to long standing
litigations. The land acquisition procedure has however become a complex one,
prohibiting the payment of fair compensation to project ousters.
An interesting example is that of Three Gorges Dam in China. The Three Gorges
Dam is the world’s largest hydropower project. The massive project set a record
in terms of displacing twelve Lakh people and flooding 13 cities, 140 towns,
1,350 villages as well as in its reservoir length of more than 600 kilometers.
It is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. It is located in the middle
of the three gorges on the Yangtze River, the third longest in the world, in
the Hubei Province of China. It is 3,937 miles long with an annual discharge of
960 billion cubic meters of water into the East China Sea. Through the Three
Gorges Project, China has acquired the know-how to build large hydropower
schemes, and has begun exporting similar projects around the world. The Three
Gorges Dam is the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity
(22,500 MW). In 2014 the dam generated 98.8 TWh of electricity.
A large dam across the Yangtze River was originally envisioned by Sun Yat-sen
in the International Development of China, in 1919. It was his vision to
harness the power of the Yangtze River by a dam to further economic development
in China, using the benefits of hydroelectric power. In 1932, the Nationalist
government, led by Chiang Kai-shek, began preliminary work on plans in the
Three Gorges. In 1939, Japanese military forces occupied Yichang and surveyed
the area. A design, the Otani plan, was completed for the dam in anticipation
of a Japanese victory over China. It however did not happen.
After the
1949 Communist takeover, Mao Zedong supported the project. After the 1954
Yangtze River Floods, in 1956, Mao Zedong authored a poem titled
"Swimming", about his fascination with a dam on the Yangtze River. In
1958, after the Hundred Flowers Campaign, some engineers who spoke out against
the project were imprisoned. During the 1980s, the idea of a dam reemerged. The
project was approved by the Chinese government in 1992. However, construction
didn’t begin until 1994.
Construction
started on December 14, 1994. The dam that was originally expected to be fully
operational in 2009 was delayed and full operation could take place sometime in
May 2012. The ship lift was completed in 2015. The $25 billion project was
internationally funded by companies, export credit agencies, and banks from
Canada, Switzerland, Germany, France, Sweden, and Brazil.
The
Chinese Government envisaged four goals for the Three Gorges Dam project namely
Flood Control, Power Generation, Navigation and Tourism. As the dam has the
capacity to reduce the impacts of flooding since it will have a flood control
capacity of 22.15 billion cubic meters. The earlier experience of killing
thousands of people and causing millions of dollars in damages was permanently
done away with the construction of the dam. The use of hydroelectric turbine
generators reduces China’s dependency on coal, a hydro carbon that produces
greenhouse gases. The Three Gorges Dam is expected to produce about 84.6
billion kilowatt hours of clean energy annually. The presence of the dam, the
reservoir, and the ship locks allows large ships to travel up and downstream.
Ships will be able to transport goods all the way to the sea at Shanghai. Since
the Three Gorges Dam Project is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world, it
is expected to be popular among tourists visiting China.
The dam consists of three parts: the dam itself, the ship locks, and the ship
lift- a large wind-driven or engine-powered vessel designed to carry passengers
or cargo over water, especially across the ocean. The dam is 600 feet high and
1.3 miles across. It consists of a center spillway, to let water over the dam,
and each side houses the hydroelectric turbine generators, twenty-six in all.
The water behind the dam is expected to reach a final height of 525 ft. The
length of the forming reservoir will be 36 miles, thus the reservoir will be
able to store up to 39.3 billion cubic meters of water. The height of the river
is expected to rise as much as 375 miles upstream of the Three Gorges. Since
the change is water level is so drastic, as many as 1.3 – 1.9 million people
are being forced to move.
The
construction of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River has a number of
positive and negative economic impacts for the Three Gorges area and for China.
A cost-benefit analysis was done to determine these impacts. Since the Yangtze
River has a tendency to flood frequently, measures have been taken in the past
to lessen the impacts on the area. Flooding in the past has cost millions in
damages to homes, land, and other property. With the building of the Three
Gorges Dam, the flood frequency is increased to one-hundred years, thus
lessening the impact floods. The dam will also provide energy for much of
China. Hydroelectric power is a self-sustaining, renewable, clean energy
resource.
The
creation of the reservoir has a number of economic values. It will aid in
boosting agriculture, since the reservoir will hold more water for irrigation.
It also will provide the surrounding areas with a stable source of drinking
water. With a final depth of 525 ft, larger ships can be used to transport
products up and down the Yangtze River. The majority of the people living in
the reservoir area are uneducated, thus making this transition more difficult.
About 1.3 – 1.9 million people were forced to move from their homes along the
Yangtze River due to the construction of the Three Gorges Dam.
The way
in which the Chinese government compensates people forced to move is called the
“lump sum” method. This method grants people the total net worth of their home
and land, according to criteria put in place by the government. The way in
which the Chinese government compensates people moving out is called the “lump
sum” method. This method grants people the total net worth of their home and
land, according to criteria put in place by the government. The Three Gorges
Dam, despite some negative impacts on nearby affected society, does offer the
positive benefit of flood control. END
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