The Sanxia Dam (Three Gorge Dam), one of the largest in the world and built in the Yangtze River area, has been impounding water in a reservoir since June 1.

More than eight years have passed since the dam construction was launched. At last it has begun generating electric power. Sun Wen and Mao Zedong once dreamed of making an artificial lake in the canyon where the dam is located. Now their dream will come true in 2009 when the project comes to completion.

There have been pros and cons over the project in China. The World Bank and the U.S. Export-Import Bank turned down Beijing's request for a loan over concerns of environmental problems and were critical of China's stance toward human rights issues. Japan also refused extending a loan.

The National People's Congress, equivalent to the Diet in the West, gave a green light to the project despite the fact that nearly one-third of attendees were either against or abstained from voting.　

Even now there have remained a sea of concerns: The dam could destroy the ecosystem and historical relics and may pollute the water. There are also concerns regarding anti-earthquake and anti-terrorism measures.

Above all, the biggest concern is the emigration plan to remove more than 1.2 million people living near the dam, which is slow in progress. Only 720,000 people have emigrated as of this spring. Yet, there are not sufficient farming lands for them and they are finding it difficult to get new jobs.

Other problems have occurred after their emigration. They suffer from differences in lifestyle in the new places where they have　settled and part of their compensation money, paid for　emigrating，was raked off. The plan for removing the remaining 500,000 residents faces more difficulty now.

Under such circumstances, why have no arguments over the project occurred in the Chinese leadership since it started? I also wonder why the project, whose schedule was front-loaded, has been under smooth progress for the time being.

Part of the answer is that the project is a strong support arm for the supply of electricity, which has stood in the way of the country's economic growth.

At present, the annual consumption of Chinese electrical power per capita is estimated at 1,000 kwh, about half the world average and 1/20 of that used in developed countries.

The International Electric Federation projected that China's demand for electricity would be a 2.6-times fold increase over the current one as long as the country plans to quadruple the size of the economy by 2020. The dam, once construction is completed, can generate the electrical power of 84 billion kwh per year, equivalent to 50 million tons of coal consumption and that generated by 18 Japanese nuclear power plants.

The hydraulic power generation can be substituted for thermal power generation using mainly coal, so that China can avoid the emission of sulfur dioxide, which is estimated at 2 million tons per year.

There are views abroad that China went ahead with the construction plan for a practical reason, an increase in power generation. But Sun Wen wanted to build the dam mainly for the sake of preventing floods. Floods on a large scale occur once every 10 years in the Yangtze River area. Two hundred million people suffered from the latest one, which took place in 1998. The value of damages amounted to 200 billion yuan (approximately 3 trillion yen).

Opposing arguments against the dam project flicked out rapidly after the latest flood hit the Yangtze area. Once the dam is completed, the chance of flooding will be once in every 100 years.

Big improvements in the water transportation system are expected.

A huge reservoir will appear after the dam construction comes to an end. Its total length will be 660 kilometers, equivalent to the distance between Tokyo and Kobe. In terms of one-way traffic, ships whose capacity totaling 50 million tons per year will be able to navigate the distance between Sanxia and Chongqing.

The figure will be a five-fold increase compared to the capacities of ships currently passing through the same route. It also equals to those carried by 100 railway lines. A ship with a capacity of 10,000 tons can directly navigate from Shanghai to Chongqing and will see its transportation costs decline 35 percent．

But, unanticipated problems have emerged. For example, there is a warning that the life of the Sanxia Dam could be short due to the accumulation of mud and sand that outpours from the upstream areas of the Yangtze River and its confluents.

Deforestation and industrialization in the areas together with continuous worsening environments such as major declines in the nationwide forest area and desertification are responsible for the effusion of mud and sand.

In recent years, the government has been energetically studying technology that can flush mud and sand out after separating them from water. The technology utilizes water pressure generated by dam operations. Deforestation in the upper stream area of the river is now prohibited and numerical targets for an increase in forest areas have been imposed. Still, one cannot know how effective these measures are.

The project has been promoted in a high gear while it embraces many problems. One can say that it is the epitome of the current China, which enjoys a high growth. Major events will take place one after another in three years starting in 2008.

They are the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, the completion of the dam construction and the World Exposition in Shanghai. China attempts to maintain a continuous growth through trial and error.

Five years ago, a syndication of Japanese corporations was completely defeated by its European counterpart in its bid to win the orders for power-generation facilities for the Sanxia Dam.

China does not have enough know-how in safety management and process-control technology.

Maeda Corporation set its eye on the country's weakness and made a contract with the Chinese side under which the Japanese company becomes an adviser for the security management of the dam building. The Chinese side has introduced the company's concrete mixer technology at the worksites.

Following the dam construction, the focus will turn to the project of developing the inland area along the Yangtze River.

Business opportunities are there for Japanese and foreign companies.

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