Dam on China

Dam on China's Salween goes for it

Environment

According to a translated report from China News Service, the Liuku dam, the first on the mainstream Nu, as the Salween is known in the Middle kingdom, is going to be built in the first half of 2004.

The news had come right out of the National People's Congress being held in Beijing. 

Ou Zhi-ming, Governor of Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, told CNS on 9 March the Nujiang was no longer a pristine river, because trees under the altitude of 1,500 meters along the valley had been almost logged. 

He defended the dam project saying those located above, 2,000 meters and the core part above 2,500 meters would remain a "buffer zone." 

"The existing mode of development in Nujiang is 'conservational development'," he insisted. "The rate of forest cover in the core part of the Three Parallel Rivers is now increasing. Over 90% of biological diversity is now being preserved." 

Plans for a cascade of 13 dams on the Nu have already been moved forward under the direction of China Huadian Corporation, a wholly State-owned enterprise and roads are already being built to enable the construction of the Liuku dam to commence, reports Watershed, a publication by Bangkok-based environmental group, TERRA, in its November 2003 - March 2004 issue. 

Activists in Thailand and Burma have since December been calling on Beijing to consult downstream countries before going ahead with its plan. 

Related news:
UNESCO says China's Salween part of World heritage site, 29 February 2004