Construction had continued on two highly controversial hydro dams on the Yangtze River in Yunnan province , despite orders from the mainland’s top environmental watchdog for the projects to be abandoned, state television reports.
The two dams are being built by power giants China Huaneng Group and China Huadian Group, which together produced a fifth of the mainland’s electricity last year.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection issued orders on June 11 for work to stop on dams at Huaneng’s Longkaikou hydropower plant and Huadian’s Ludila plant, which began in January without ministerial approval.
The ministry said at the time that it would no longer process applications for environmental evaluations submitted by the two companies unless they were for projects to develop new forms of energy or environmental protection.
However, China Central Television’s flagship investigative programme Xinwen Zhoukan (News Weekly) reported on Saturday that construction was continuing apace at the sites, days after the order to halt the projects on the Jinsha River, part of the Yantgze.
When the programme’s reporters visited the Ludila site on June 14, three days after the ban was issued, construction was still under way. The flow of the river had been diverted into a man-made channel and both the riverbed and the valley walls had been turned into a building site.
At Huaneng’s Longkaikou project, construction had progressed even further and work was already under way on the main dam wall, the programme reported.
Far from halting work as a result of the ministry’s order, “in the last few days we have been working overtime every day”, an unnamed worker told the programme. “We have to finish work [on the dam base] by the 26th.”
Although the work was temporarily halted while ministry inspectors visited the two sites last week, it appeared inevitable even then that it would restart shortly, the programme said.
The general manager of Huadian Ludila Hydropower Company, Zhou Weidong , told the programme that work would start on the main dam after the annual flood season. When asked what impact the ministry’s order had had on progress, Mr. Zhou said: “Not very much, as the flood season has arrived.”
He said he had never heard of a dam project being abandoned because it did not get approval for its environmental assessment.
Executives from both power companies told the programme they viewed the environmental ministry’s approval as little more than a formality, as the projects had already received the green light from all other relevant state departments.
The power giants’ apparent disregard for the ministry’s objections to the projects adds weight to green activists’ criticisms that the watchdog remains toothless, despite attempts to strengthen it.
The agency was elevated to ministerial status in March last year, but critics say there has been little or no structural reform of the body and it has little in the way of new powers.
However, the order to stop work on the two hydropower plants follows rising concern about dam construction in the region.
Premier Wen Jiabao personally intervened in April to halt a dam project on the Nu (Salween) River, one of the last free-flowing rivers in Yunnan. He called late last month for the Liuku hydropower station project, on which preparatory work had begun, to be put on hold until environmental studies on its “far-reaching impact” could be finished.
1 comment:
Building of dams goes on despite halt order
TV report reveals watchdog ignored
Will Clem in Shanghai
22 June 2009
Construction had continued on two highly controversial hydro dams on the Yangtze River in Yunnan province , despite orders from the mainland’s top environmental watchdog for the projects to be abandoned, state television reports.
The two dams are being built by power giants China Huaneng Group and China Huadian Group, which together produced a fifth of the mainland’s electricity last year.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection issued orders on June 11 for work to stop on dams at Huaneng’s Longkaikou hydropower plant and Huadian’s Ludila plant, which began in January without ministerial approval.
The ministry said at the time that it would no longer process applications for environmental evaluations submitted by the two companies unless they were for projects to develop new forms of energy or environmental protection.
However, China Central Television’s flagship investigative programme Xinwen Zhoukan (News Weekly) reported on Saturday that construction was continuing apace at the sites, days after the order to halt the projects on the Jinsha River, part of the Yantgze.
When the programme’s reporters visited the Ludila site on June 14, three days after the ban was issued, construction was still under way. The flow of the river had been diverted into a man-made channel and both the riverbed and the valley walls had been turned into a building site.
At Huaneng’s Longkaikou project, construction had progressed even further and work was already under way on the main dam wall, the programme reported.
Far from halting work as a result of the ministry’s order, “in the last few days we have been working overtime every day”, an unnamed worker told the programme. “We have to finish work [on the dam base] by the 26th.”
Although the work was temporarily halted while ministry inspectors visited the two sites last week, it appeared inevitable even then that it would restart shortly, the programme said.
The general manager of Huadian Ludila Hydropower Company, Zhou Weidong , told the programme that work would start on the main dam after the annual flood season. When asked what impact the ministry’s order had had on progress, Mr. Zhou said: “Not very much, as the flood season has arrived.”
He said he had never heard of a dam project being abandoned because it did not get approval for its environmental assessment.
Executives from both power companies told the programme they viewed the environmental ministry’s approval as little more than a formality, as the projects had already received the green light from all other relevant state departments.
The power giants’ apparent disregard for the ministry’s objections to the projects adds weight to green activists’ criticisms that the watchdog remains toothless, despite attempts to strengthen it.
The agency was elevated to ministerial status in March last year, but critics say there has been little or no structural reform of the body and it has little in the way of new powers.
However, the order to stop work on the two hydropower plants follows rising concern about dam construction in the region.
Premier Wen Jiabao personally intervened in April to halt a dam project on the Nu (Salween) River, one of the last free-flowing rivers in Yunnan. He called late last month for the Liuku hydropower station project, on which preparatory work had begun, to be put on hold until environmental studies on its “far-reaching impact” could be finished.
Post a Comment