Assessment of dam project urged
Delegate says tough new environmental laws must be upheld to save the habitat
A National People's Congress delegate has petitioned the central government to ensure the environmental and social impact of a controversial dam project is scientifically assessed before a decision is made on the work.
The move, made at the annual session of the nation's legislature, is the latest development in the fight over Yunnan's Nu River Dam project, which has reportedly received personal attention from Premier Wen Jiabao.
He Shaoling, a senior engineer at the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, said she submitted a formal letter this week urging the government to apply the tough, new environmental impact assessment law on the project's development plans. Implemented in September, the regulation requires all construction projects to be scrutinised for their ecological and social effects before approval.
'The Nu River Dam project must go through an independent and authoritative investigation before any decision on its future should be made. Not only is this in accordance with Premier Wen's call that China's development must be based on science, but is the law,' said Professor He, who represents a coalition of environmentalists, scientists and concerned people.
In his first Government Work Report to the NPC last week, Mr Wen said government officials must make decisions after thorough 'research and studies which are based on science'. Mainland officials have often been criticised for making investment decisions after disregarding advice from experts and ignoring professional feasibility studies.
Backed by the local government as an economic development effort, the project envisages building 13 hydroelectric dams on the Nu river, which flows through the forests and mountains of Yunnan.
Opponents say the dams pose an ecological and cultural threat because they will not only destroy thousands of rare and endangered plants and animals, but also cause the forced relocation of at least 50,000 people, mainly members of the region's 22 ethnic minorities. The opponents have organised a nationwide public campaign, including the collection of signatures. With wide media coverage, including reports on Central China Television, their efforts so far have succeeded in pushing back the groundbreaking date, originally scheduled for last year.
Sources said the campaign had also received Mr Wen's interest and State Council officials recently told some petitioners that he was personally watching the project.
But despite Mr Wen's attention, opponents said supporters of the project had lobbied other officials, saying that the law did not require an environmental assessment of the entire project, but only of the dams on an individual basis.
