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Construction to begin late this year on Three Gorges Project shiplift The China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation announced Wednesday that they will begin construction work for a ship lift in fall 2005. The ship lift, which is 120 meters by 18 meters by 3.5 meters, will be biggest of its kind in the world. Upon completion in 2009,it will be able to accommodate the passage of a passenger-cum-cargo ship with 3,000 DWT (dead weight tonnages) a time or a bargewith 1,500 DWT a time, said corporate sources. Ships passing through the Three Gorges Project, which is being built on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, have used a shiplock there since June 2003. But the process takes three hours for a single trip. When the ship lift is put in place, it will only take about 40 minutes for ships and boats to pass through the dam. For the time being, Chinese and German experts are still working on the designing of the ship lift that will be erected on the northern bank of the Yangtze River. Launched in 1993, the Three Gorges Project is the biggest watercontrol facility in the world. The mammoth project, which is also capable of power generation, will be constructed in three phases. Preparations and actual construction in the first phase were carried out between 1993 and 1997. The Yangtze was dammed at the Three Gorges area for the first time on November 8, 1997. In accordance with an original plan, the Three Gorges Project, with a budget of 180 billion yuan (approximately 21.7 billion US dollars), will have 26 generators with a combined generating capacity amounting to 18.2 million kw and be able to produce 84.7 billion kwh of hydro-electric power annually when it is completed in 2009. |
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