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By numbers: the Three Gorges Dam

Building the dam has forced 1.4m people to relocate.

By New Statesman Published 05 July 2012 18:08
Three Gorges Dam. Photograph, Getty Images.
Three Gorges Dam. Photograph, Getty Images.

China's Three Gorges Dam is now up and running. With the last of the hydropower generators in place, its generating capacity is now 22.5 gigawatts: 11 per cent of China's total hydropower capacity. But what was the cost? Here are the figures:

40bn: The estimated cost of the dam (dollars).

1.4m: The number of people who have had to relocate.

100,000: The number of people who might be moved because of landslides.

1,350: The number of villages that have been submerged.

140: Towns submerged.

13: Cities submerged.

 
 

1 comment

hugh markey's picture

Mon, 2012-07-09 22:26 — hugh markey (not verified)

Several of us have returned from China awed by the sheer enormity of the buildings and civil engineering works.
Following our trips across China the UK on our return seems like Lilleput. We expect the UK Olympic effort to be a downsized Chinese version.
And talking finance, we now know that without Chinese funds the West would have gone down the plug hole.

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