The Chinese government has plans to build four hydropower plants with a combined installed capacity of 38.5 GWe, twice the generating capacity of Three Gorges, to be built along the Jinsha River on the upper reaches of the Yangtze. The China Yangtze Three Gorges Project Development Corporation said that it would spend $120 million on the initial development of the projects this year. Construction of two giant dams to prepare for power generation is expected to start before 2005.
Critics of the project have said that it risks causing severe pollution and silting by retarding the river’s flow. While construction of the planned dams is considered likely to involve the resettlement of fewer people than the one million people already moved out of the Three Gorges Project area, the environmental impact remains a concern for such critics. There are also worries that the new projects could face major commercial challenges. “There is a power surplus in some areas,” said Ma Jun, an environmental consultant at Beijing-based Sinosphere. “They are still trying hard to sell all the power generated by Three Gorges. There will be uncertainty over the future demand for this power supply.”
