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Dammed if you do, damned if you don't

A top water resources official said proposals for controversial hydropower projects should be shelved to allay public concern, but added his support for damming the Nu River in Yunnan, which is home to a world heritage site.

The remarks by Minister of Water Resources Wang Shucheng coincided with local villagers' allegations that preparatory work for the Nu River dam project had been under way, despite a long-held government ban.

Mr Wang said the authorities should not persist with controversial dam proposals given the fact that there were abundant hydropower resources and plenty of good places to build dams.

'It won't be a big deal to leave some proposed dams out while we go ahead with those less controversial ones,' he said.

Mr Wang said his ministry had yet to approve the Nu River project as authorities had not mapped out a development plan on the water resources.

'We have yet to draw up the water resource plan, despite the power authorities having decided on their hydropower development scheme. It is not the right procedure' he said. 'The development of the Nu River will not be possible until the completion of the water resource plan, which should include an ecological assessment.'

He cautioned against the electric authorities' keenness to tap hydropower potential with an original plan to build up to 13 dams along the waterway, producing more than 103 billion kW of electricity a year.

Local governments in the water-rich province see the project as part of poverty-reduction efforts and have pressed for an early start to construction, despite domestic and international opposition. However, Mr Wang said it would be acceptable to build dams on the Nu River if they did not pose a threat to the world heritage site.

The headwaters of three great rivers, the Nu (Salween), Lancang (Mekong) and Jinsha (Yangtze), have been listed as a UN World Cultural and Natural Heritage site since 2003.

'As hydropower potential in most of the country's main rivers has been tapped, it was only natural to consider tapping abundant resources from the Nu River,' Mr Wang said. 'Moderate development, including building hydropower plants, is conducive to the conservation of the Nu River.'

He said it would still be possible to choose one or two less controversial sites to start building dams while the plan was considered. 'It takes seven to eight years to build a hydropower plant and we will be able to finalise the water plan during that period.'

But Mr Wang fell short of saying whether he supported a scaled-down version of building four dams in the middle reaches - including Liuku, Yabiluo, Saige and Maji - which was backed by the provincial government. The slimmed-down proposal, supported by the National Development and Reform Commission, came after Premier Wen Jiabao called a halt to the project in 2004 after a public outcry.

Mr Wang shrugged off concerns that the dam project would jeopardise the world heritage site and rejected calls from mainland environmental activists to keep the Nu River, arguably the mainland's last untapped river, free of dams.

'Some people say China should keep at least one wild river. But according to many of our experts, the environment along the river has already been damaged extensively by deforestation and farming,' he said.

Mr Wang had said that it was unlikely the project would be scrapped, despite strong pressure from Unesco, which has threatened to remove the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas from the world heritage list.

Beijing submitted a report in February to the UN heritage body on its hydropower development plan in the region, but has so far declined to reveal the details, despite strong public calls for more transparency. Unesco's advisory body, the World Conservation Union, declined to comment on the report.

Despite Mr Wang's assurances that no construction would be allowed on the river before a government reshuffle next year, local villagers said preparatory work for the Nu project, such as hydrological and geological measurements, had been launched.

Mu Jiawu, 36, who moved his home to a 2,000 metre-high mountain in Lushui county near the proposed Liuku dam, said surveyors were working on the river banks.

'They have been working there since the start of this year,' he said.

He said although life on the mountain was difficult, his house would not be affected when the dam was built.

Cha Weichuan, a tour guide in Liuku, also confirmed the work was continuing.

Mr Wang said listening to different opinions, such as those from increasingly influential environmental non-government groups, would be useful to avoid mistakes and address ecological woes.

'Officials should be accustomed to a prolonged decision-making process, especially on major projects, due to the democratic approach adopted in soliciting opinions,' he said. 'People with different opinions can strive for a best possible solution.

'Although it may take a bit longer to reach an agreement, it is likely to avoid mistakes and serious repercussions as a result of rash decisions by leading officials.'

But Mr Wang did not comment on complaints by villagers that they had been kept in the dark. He also played down the impact of the Nu dams on neighbouring countries, which have voiced serious concerns over China's harnessing of international rivers, including the Nu, Lancang, and Yarlung Zangbo (Brahmaputra).

'In fact, hydropower plants in the upper reaches are conducive to downstream countries,' he said.

While noting that dams have been blamed for destroying bio-diversity and endangering aquatic species, Mr Wang said many countries in the region had their own plans to tap hydropower, and should also work out ways to protect fish stocks.

Mr Wang said hydropower plants did not consume much water or divert it to other regions, but instead acted as a barrier to flooding.

'Take the Lancang River, for example. We have invited government officials and experts from countries in the lower reaches of the Mekong River to visit our power plants,' Mr Wang said. 'After the visits, they were not against our hydropower projects because those dams were far away from the border areas and only used small amounts of water.'

But he spoke bitterly about the Mekong River Commission, an international group helping Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand manage the development of their rivers. 'It is sponsored by western countries and China has been deliberately targeted,' he said.

Mr Wang said villagers were paid to protest against China's projects on the upper reaches of the river.

Meanwhile, Mr Wang said China still had vast potential to tap hydropower and ease acute energy shortages amid rising concerns over a new round of 'dam fever' driven by energy-hungry development.

Its hydropower capacity has reached 120,000 MW and there are at least 200,000 MW waiting to be tapped using available technology, he said.

More than 70 per cent of power in the country comes from polluting coal-fired plants and only 15 per cent comes from hydroelectric plants, considered a clean energy source and favoured by China's biggest power producers.

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