Yunnan still hopeful of approval for dam scheme
Officials from Yunnan province hope the controversial Nu River dam project will go ahead soon.
Speaking on the sidelines of an NPC panel meeting yesterday, Yunnan Communist Party Secretary Bai Enpei said the provincial government remained committed to the hydroelectric project.
'We will make sure that while we are developing our industry and economy, we also give adequate attention to the protection and the development of the environment,' Mr Bai said.
He rejected reports that Yunnan would build as many as 13 dams on the river in the next 20 years.
'This is [just a suggestion] made by a research report that the river can support so many dams, it doesn't mean that we have to construct as many,' he said.
Mr Bai declined to say when the project would formally start.
The 11th Five-Year Programme just submitted to the National People's Congress mentions three dams on the Nu River.
The damming of the river - one of the country's two last untapped waterways - was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission in August 2003. Activists say the project will ruin the area's pristine environment and strip about 50,000 locals of their livelihood and traditional culture.
Partly due to the strong public reaction, Premier Wen Jiabao called for the project to be halted in February 2004.
He Duanqi, director of the Yunnan Development and Reform Commission, defended the project, saying it would benefit the locals and the environment.
'It's a good opportunity for [locals] to escape poverty. You can't only emphasise environmental protection and ignore people's benefits,' he said.
A group of environmentalists who recently returned from the Nu River said residents were unaware that they would soon be relocated.
