From Interfax China (link):
The China Three Gorges Project Corporation (CTGPC) is keen to emphasize the virtues of its flagship hydropower dam on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The state-owned company recently launched a propaganda campaign entitled “Three Gorges Project: The Harmonious Development Humanity and Nature“, a photography exhibition which will demonstrate how the project “harnesses and develops the Yangtze” and explore the “successes [the project has contributed] to China’s hydropower development and the protection of its environment”.
Despite all the efforts to stress the positive benefits of the controversial multibillion-dollar project, the company’s spokesperson, Yan Fei, was reluctant to discuss the early completion of the dam when contacted by Interfax, and had no details about the progress of the remaining generating units to be installed on the right bank. She was also unable to give any details about plans to build another batch of underground turbines.
Installation on that right bank has, in fact, already begun, with the assembly of the first unit, No. 26, beginning on May 11. According to the vice-general manager of CTGPC, Cao Guangjing, speaking at Yichang on Friday May 12, the entire 26-unit project will be completed by the end of 2008, a year ahead of schedule. He insisted that the rapid progress on the project would not affect the quality of construction, and would enable the project to generate an extra 70 bln kWh in electricity.
See also Three Gorges revisited by Fan Xiao
