'Little' Three Gorges plan for Shanghai
Shanghai is considering building a dam across the Huangpu river that cuts through the city, in a project dubbed by one newspaper as the little Three Gorges Dam.
However, some experts were opposed to the scheme because of environmental concerns, the China Daily said yesterday.
Shen Guoping, head of a research group under the government-backed Shanghai Urban Planning and Design Research Institute, said the 2-billion-yuan project had yet to receive central government approval.
Mr Shen said the project was being considered in the 1950s, but had been shelved until recently when fears over higher tides during typhoons and storms led to a revival of the plan.
'This topic is now under study,' Mr Shen said.
Another official at the urban planning institute described the proposed project as a 'floodgate' across the river.
Shanghai has announced plans to clean up the river and build a footbridge across the waterway for the 2010 World Expo.
The China Daily said the city needed the project to help control flooding because of rising water levels and sinking land.
The proposed site for the dam, which would take five to seven years to complete, is in the northern district of Baoshan.
