Three Gorges project certified as complete, fully functioning

WUHAN - The Three Gorges project, which manages the flow of water on China's Yangtze River, has been officially certified as complete and fully functioning, authorities announced on Sunday.

China's Ministry of Water Resources and the National Development and Reform Commission announced the official full completion of the project's construction, saying it has met all design requirements, has a good overall performance, and fulfills the key roles of flood control, electricity generation, shipping and water-resource utilization.

The Three Gorges project, construction of which began in 1994, is a multi-functional water-control system, consisting of a 2,309-meter-long and 185-meter-high dam, five-tier ship locks on the north and south sides, and 34 turbo-generators with a combined generating capacity of 22.5 million kilowatts.

The project has played key roles in flood control along the Yangtze River basin. Statistics show that, since it first began operations until August this year, the dam has held back 180 billion cubic meters of water during flood seasons.

It also reduced flood peaks by about 40 percent, greatly easing flood-control pressure in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

This has been particularly important along the Jingjiang River, a section of the Yangtze that has seen severe flooding in the past.

"After the completion of the project, the flood-control situation in Jingjiang River has changed," said Xu Xinghua, deputy director of the Yangtze River management bureau in Jingzhou city, Central China's Hubei province.

He said that in 1998, the Jingjiang River was hit by flooding, forcing about 330,000 residents to be relocated.

"But now, the Three Gorges project has ensured the stability and safety of the Jingjiang River," he said.

Luo Jianbin, a resident of Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province located on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, said although there were more rainfall in recent years, waterlogging occured only occasionally.

"Now that the Three Gorges Dam is controlling the water upstream, I feel at ease," he said.