China’s minister of water resources has poured cold water on the plan to build 13 dams on the Nu River in the southwest of the country, calling the proposal a form of “predatory development.”
In a speech Tuesday [Oct. 24] at the University of Hong Kong, Wang Shucheng indicated high-level disapproval of the plan to build a string of large dams on the Nu as it flows through the Three Parallel Rivers National Park in Yunnan province.
Mr. Wang said concerns related to the park — parts of which were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2003 — as well as “downstream national interests,” made it impossible to continue with the original plan. [Full Text]