Water began filling the reservoir behind the gigantic Three Gorges Dam yesterday in a major step towards completion of the world's largest hydroelectric project.

The sluice gates of the dam in Yichang, in Central China's Hubei Province, began closing at midnight and by early morning live broadcasts on State television showed the water level had already reached 106 metres. By June 15, the level is expected to reach 135 metres.

The closure of 19 of the dam's 22 water diversion holes yesterday was declared a success, the Xinhua news agency reported. It said the remaining three holes would be left open to ensure an adequate flow of water to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

The storing of water in the dam is a milestone in the development of the world's largest hydropower project, which will be completed in 2009.

Navigation on the Three Gorges section of the Yangtze River, which was prohibited for 52 days, will resume on June 16 as the permanent ship lock at the middle reaches of the Yangtze River begins trial operations. Larger ships will be able to traverse the dam to the river upstream.

Since construction began on the project in 1993, the multi-billion-dollar scheme has progressed on schedule, with phase II due for completion by the end of this year.

And two hydropower generating units, each with a capacity of 700,000 kilowatts, will start up in August. Another two will begin operating in October.

A total of 5.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity will be produced this year.

"The end of phase II of the project means that our decade of hard work will begin to bear fruit," said Lu Youmei, president of the China Three Gorges Project Corp, which is the owner and developer of the scheme.

The power will be delivered to energy-starved cities in Central and East China this year, including Shanghai and Wuhan, said Lu. "Everything is on track, and we are confident that the entire project will progress on schedule," he said.

The project is due for completion in six years. Over the six years, the dam water level is expected to reach 175 metres and another 12 power generators will start work. By 2009, 26 power generating units will have a total capacity of 18.2 million kilowatts.

Lu said the project would be within its budget of 203.5 billion yuan (US$24.57 billion), which is being funded by the central government, corporate bond issues, commercial loans and credit.

"We are optimistic that we can save about 20 billion yuan (US$2.41 billion) thanks to stable commodity prices in the past 10 years and our supervision of the project," said Lu.

n SPOTLIGHT, Page 3

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