Chongqing Municipality and Hubei province are urged to clean the evacuated houses, factories and sewage and garbage in the bed of the future Three Gorges Reservoir before the first quarter of next year. The reservoir is expected to conserve water in June of 2003.
They are also asked to do a good job of the preservation of soil and water and take care of the potential landslide in the reservoir area.
This was announced at a TV and telephone conference sponsored by the Three Gorges Project Engineering Committee of the State Council.
According to Guo Shuyan, director of the committee, the resettlement of the residents below the water mark of 135 meters will be accomplished by the end of this year. Of the 788 factories to be removed, 664 have already been resettled. 96% of the firms that will be closed are in the process of bankruptcy clearance. Hubei and Chongqing will finish the work of cleaning the reservoir bed by the end of this year and are ready for inspection by the central government by March of next year.
Technical standards have been well defined for the cleaning of architectures, forests, garbage and solid waste, training has been offered to relevant staff and the funds for the end have been appropriated.
Chongqing has built 19 sewage and 5 garbage disposal centers, respectively accounting for 86% and 54% of the planned total. Hubei has started the construction of 4 sewage and 4 garbage disposal centers that are expected to be finished before June of 2003.
(www.cenews.com.cn September 29, 2002)
