毎日新聞ニュース速報
「黄金水道」と呼ばれる揚子江を、重慶から上海に向かう定期船「青年文明号」（１３００トン、定員８００人）に乗った。重慶を出て約８時間。出稼ぎ者らでごった返す客室部分とは好対照に、操舵（そうだ）室は緊張に包まれていた。 船底からの水深を示す計測器が警報ライン（２ｍ）すれすれを推移する。２・５、２・１ｍ……。「揚子江には多くの土砂や石が流れていて、浅瀬も多い。気が抜けません」。方淳毅船長（４１）が計器を見詰めながら説明した。 悠々とした流れは土砂で真っ茶色に染まり、白い泡の固まりが絶え間なく通り過ぎる。この大河を２１年間見守ってきた方船長が嘆いた。「白い泡は製紙工場が垂れ流す廃水。川の汚れが随分目立つようになった」
★ ★ 重慶から６００キロ下流の湖北省三斗坪。「三峡下り」で知られる景勝地の一角に、世界最大の水利プロジェクト「三峡ダム」の建設現場がある。堤の高さ１８５ｍ、最大幅２３３１ｍの巨大ダム建設に向け、昼夜、２万人が働く。１９９４年に本格着工、総事業費は約２０００億元（約３兆円）に上る。 ２００９年の完工時には１８２０万キロＷの発電能力を持ち、中国の電力消費量の１割を賄う。「１００年に一度の大洪水にも対処できる」という洪水制御能力を持つ。今年１１月に本流をせき止め、７月の香港返還と併せた２大慶事にすべく急ピッチで工事が進む。
★ ★ この三峡ダム建設に、世界の多くの環境・人権団体が反対を表明している。日本にも組織を持つ国際的なＮＧＯ（非政府組織）「地球の友」などによると、土砂堆積によりダムは短命で、上流で洪水を引き起こす恐れがあるほか、水流が遅くなることで水質汚染が悪化し、政府発表で１１３万人に上る移住も不可能−−などが主な理由だ。 国内にも反対があった。９２年、全国人民代表大会でこのプロジェクトが採択された際、代議員の３分の１が反対または棄権した。共産党による一党支配の中国では極めて異例だった。 黄万里・清華大教授（水利工学）は「三峡ダムの建設は間違っている」と断言する。黄教授は米国のテネシー川流域開発公社で一時期働き、四川省開発局で測量隊長として揚子江を延べ３０００キロ調査した。その黄教授が指摘する。「揚子江にはこぶし大から直径３０ｃｍのものまで多くの石が流れている。私の試算では、こうした砂礫（れき）の総量はダム付近で年間１億トンになり、ダムは埋まってしまう」 だが、三峡プロジェクトの施工・管理を行う「中国長江三峡工程開発総公司」の王家柱副社長は「批判する人たちは、なぜダムを造るのか分かっていない。
洪水があれば数十万人が犠牲になる可能性がある。中国ではエネルギーが不足しているのだ」と淡々と語る。そして、「増水期の放水で土砂は排出する。１００年後でも８５〜９０％の能力を維持できる」と“短命ダム”との懸念を一蹴（いっしゅう）する。
★ ★ 昨年１２月下旬、発電機（出力７０万キロＷ）全２６基のうち１４基の国際入札が締め切られた。日本、ドイツ、ロシアなど８カ国の企業による数グループが応札。日本輸出入銀行は日立製作所を幹事とする８社連合への融資を決めた。これに先立つ１１月２８日、国会議員でつくる「公共事業チェック機構を実現する議員の会」（小杉隆会長）は輸銀、通産省と会合を持ち「国民のお金（輸銀の財源は財政投融資）で相手国の将来をむちゃくちゃにしてはいけない」と慎重な対応を要請。輸銀の決定には「環境や人権の問題が生じれば、融資内諾を見直す可能性がある」との前提がついた。 米国では１００を越えるＮＧＯが建設に反対し、米輸出入銀行は融資しないことを決定。世界銀行、アジア開発銀行も融資の意思がないことを表明した。
★ ★ 中国政府の三峡ダムに関する環境影響報告書は北京で英訳出版された。特定のプロジェクトに対する措置としては異例で、中国が国際社会から巻き上がる逆風に敏感になっていることがうかがえる。そして、その報告書では「ダムから放出される水が下流の川床を洗い流し、水生生物相の成育環境は明らかに変化するだろう」と明記されていた。 下流には１００頭を切った絶滅危惧種、ヨウスコウカワイルカが生息する。３０００万年前の原始的な形質を残し「生きた化石」と言われる珍しいほ乳類だ。「我々のコンピューター予測では早ければ２５年で絶滅する。この現状に世界の人が注目してほしい」。中国科学院水生生物研究所（武漢市）の王丁・主任研究員は危機的状況を訴える。 荒天の前、川面をはねて人間に危険を知らせたというヨウスコウカワイルカに絶滅の危機が迫る。【地球環境問題取材班】＝つづく
[1997-02-14-00:11]
Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The following news report
may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the
prior written consent of Reuters Ltd. By Benjamin Kang Lim
BEIJING, March 19 (Reuter) - A plan to move up to 100,000 people from the
giant Three Gorges dam site to China's Moslem region of Xinjiang has been
stalled by resistance from local authorities, Chinese sources said on Wednesday.
Xinjiang's Communist Party boss Wang Lequan has opposed the plan to resettle
50,000-100,000 people, mostly Han Chinese, in the restive western region,
the sources said.
"If Wang Lequan agreed... Xinjiang's ethnic minorities would be incensed,"
said a source who asked not to be identified. Wang is a Han Chinese. The
Han account for more than 90 percent of China's 1.2 billion people but
Xinjiang is populated mainly by Moslem, Turkic-speaking groups, such as
the Uighur ethnic minority. Any plans to change the ethnic balance in Xinjiang
would add to long-simmering tensions between Moslem ethnic groups and Han
Chinese.
The region's capital Urumqi was rocked by a series of bus bombs last month.
The attacks killed nine and wounded 74. Exiled ethnic Uighurs, who want
to set up an independent state of "East Turkestan" in Xinjiang,
have claimed responsibility and vowed to stage more attacks until they
gain complete freedom for their homeland. The sources said that Wang, despite
public statements that the region was stable, had been anxious to keep
ethnic frictions from flaring up again.
Other Xinjiang leaders oppose the mass resettlement plan. Abdulahat Abdurixit,
a Uighur who is chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, has voiced
his opposition, the sources said. Chinese officials declined to comment,
saying the resettlement programme was a state secret. More than one million
people, mostly Han Chinese, are to be moved from areas to be flooded when
the Yangtze River is diverted this year, state media have said.
The Three Gorges -- the world's biggest water control project -- will create
a 600 square km (230 square mile) reservoir in the central province of
Hubei. In February, an anti-Chinese riot erupted in Yining in Xinjiang.
Nine people were killed and 198 injured in the riot -- one of the largest,
most violent demonstrations for independence in Xinjiang since the 1949
communist takeover.
Chinese officials have said there was no evidence linking the unrest in
Xinjiang to a bus bombing in Beijing this month. But Beijing police have
called on hotels to strengthen security and asked taxi drivers in the Chinese
capital not to give rides to suspicious looking people from Xinjiang and
to be especially cautious in neighbourhoods where many Uighur migrants
live. In a show of unity after the unrest, Chinese newspapers splashed
on their front pages pictures of Communist Party chief Jiang Zemin wearing
a traditional Uighur cap and shaking hands with a popular Uighur singer.
REUTER
Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The following news report
may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the
prior written consent of Reuters Ltd. By Mure Dickie
BEIJING, March 5 (Reuter) - Chinese officials on Wednesday crowed their
success in taking just five days to sell 1.0 billion yuan ($120 million)
worth of bonds to help finance the Three Gorges Dam project across the
mighty Yangtze river. Construction of the world's largest water control
project was ahead of schedule and under budget, with diversion of the Yangtze
expected in November this year, said Guo Shuyan, director of the Three
Gorges Project Construction Committee.
A bond issue this month by the China Yangtze Three Gorges Development Corp
had already been a success, company president Lu Youmei told a news conference
in Beijing's cavernous Great Hall of the People. "I just heard the
news today that...in just five days, all 1.0 billion yuan in bonds have
sold out," Lu said of the three-year bonds, which carry annual interest
of 11 percent. Both Lu and Guo painted a relentlessly upbeat picture of
progress on the Three Gorges project, which has for years been the subject
of fierce debate both in China and elsewhere.
Supporters of the dam, a pet project of Chinese Premier Li Peng, say it
will plug a huge energy gap in China's power-starved heartland by producing
84.7 billion killowatt hours of electricity a year while also curbing seasonal
floods. Critics say the 175-metre-high (574-feet) dam will be vulnerable
to silting, will damage the environment, drown priceless archaeological
treasures and be a perennial risk to millions of people living downstream.
The resettlement of more than one million people from areas to be flooded
by the dam will cause huge social strains, while the project's 203 billion
yuan inflation-adjusted price-tag will suck investment away from other
areas, opponents say. Lu dismissed concerns over the dam's financing, saying
Beijing's success in reining in inflation meant it was under-budget so
far, and that income was expected to match expenditure by 2005.
"We expect to repay all the debt by the year 2012, so the Three Gorges
Dam has better economic returns than any other big hydropower project in
the world," he said. By the end of 1996, a total of 19.1 billion yuan
had been invested in the Three Gorges project, including 5.97 billion yuan
toward resettlement costs, said construction committee director Guo. While
most of the dam's financing is expected to come from state funds, taxes
on electricity and income from associated power projects, officials say
loans, bonds and shares will also be needed.
Lu said there were no plans for an overseas bond issue in the near future,
but more domestic debt offers would be made. "I believe the period
from 1999 to 2005 will be an investment peak and we will issue larger amounts
of bonds," he told reporters but declined to elaborate. ($1 - 8.3
yuan)
REUT ER
Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The following news report
may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the
prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.
BEIJING, Jan 13 (Reuter) - Chinese officials are scheduled to have resettled
29,300 people from the site of the huge Three Gorges dam project by the
time work to block the river course begins in November, the Xinhua news
agency said. After three years of effort, relocation work for the world's
largest water control project was proceeding smoothly, an overnight report
by the agency quoted Qi Lin of the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee
as saying.
More than one million people were expected to be displaced by the mammoth
project, with resettlement to continue until 2009 and predicted to cost
40 billion yuan ($4.8 billion) at current prices, it said. The dam across
the Yangtze river would create a reservoir covering 1,084 square km (418
square miles) and would wholly or partly submerge two prefectural-level
cities, 11 county seats, 114 towns and 1,599 factories, it said.
The central government had allocated almost 5.8 billion yuan for relocation
work from 1993-1996, it said but gave no details of whether the money had
proved sufficient.
By the end of August last year, 15,333 hectares (37,888 acres) of land
had been cultivated and 750,000 square metres (897,000 square yards) of
houses built as part of the resettlement programme, it said. Of the factories
to be moved, 64 had already been rebuilt, while 256 were under construction,
it said, adding that since 1995 the government had allocated loans worth
500 million yuan a year to help upgrade relocated factories. Local officials
have said many residents of areas that will be submerged are reluctant
to leave their homes to face an uncertain future elsewhere. ($1-8.3 yuan)
REUTER
Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 12:19:22 -0800
From: patrick@irn.org (Patrick McCully)
Errors-To: owner-irn-three-gorges@igc.org
To: irn-three-gorges@igc.org . .
Recently, senior officials of the Three Gorges development company revealed
plans to use some of the revenue from that plant to construct two other
hydroelectric facilities on tributaries of the Yangtze. The plants - the
14,000 MW Xiluodo project and the 6,000 MW Xiangjiaba station - could be
ready for development in the final years of the Three Gorges construction.
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1997 18:36:36 -0800
From: patrick@irn.org (Patrick McCully) Errors-
To: owner-irn-three-gorges@igc.org
To: irn-three-gorges@igc.org
Financial Times
Monday February 17 1997
The world's largest hydro-electric project has brought many suitors to
China but, says Tony Walker, the plan is controversial It is by far the
world's biggest hydro-electric power project, probably the most challenging
technically and certainly one of the most controversial politically. Companies
seeking a share of China's giant Three Gorges dam on the Yangtse river
expect competition to be cut-throat and the selection process to be unusually
difficult.
When bids closed on December 18 for the first 14 of 26 700MW power units,
including turbines and generators, six consortia had joined the race for
what has become the most sought-after prize for companies involved in the
manufacture of heavy duty power generation equipment. Now, while they wait
nervously for China's decision, they must fend off criticism from environmentalists
and human rights groups concerned at the impact of a project which will
create a reservoir 600km long, inundate historic sites and displace more
than 1m people.
Opponents of the project have vowed to seek to starve it of international
funds. Unusually for such a large venture, the World Bank is not involved.
Fearing rejection on environmental and human rights grounds, China has
not asked for assistance. For China, the giant $30bn (１8.5bn) Three Gorges
dam is a symbol of its modernisation drive. It will provide an enormous
boost to its power generating capacity-on completion in 2009, it will produce
84.7bn kWh of electricity, one-ninth of the 1993 national total. It will
also improve navigation on the turbulent Yangtse river, allowing 10,000-tonne
vessels to reach the inland city of Chongqing.
Bidders regard winning a share in the 18,200MW project as being of vital
strategic significance. Mr. Paul Chan, senior vice-president of ABB China,
says success "would provide a worldwide entry ticket for the next
two decades to large-scale hydropower projects". Mr. Zhang Denan,
vice-minister of the Three Gorges Project Construction committee, says
he expects to have awarded contracts by the end of the year at the "latest".
But the power companies believe the process could take longer. They expect
the final stages of negotiations to be especially complex-not only because
of technical and financial issues, but because political factors are likely
to weigh heavily. "The whole evaluation process is being conducted
in a dark box," says the representative of a leading European engineering
company. "The final decision will be subject to a lot of manoeuvring.
[sic]
Ultimately the Chinese will be seeking to ensure that commercial decisions
follow general foreign policy guidelines." He cites as an example
China's $1.5bn purchase last year of 30 Airbus A-320s ahead of Boeing.
The choice of the European consortium coincided with a downturn in Sino-US
relations caused by the fracas over Taiwan and the visit to France by Mr.
Li Peng, the Chinese premier.
On environmental grounds, critics say a series of smaller dams would give
better value and cause less ecological damage. They argue than an even
better return would come from spending the money on making China's existing
generator capacity more efficient. And human rights campaigners have applauded
the decision by the US Export-Import Bank, the government's export credit
agency, to withhold support. The bank came under intense pressure from
human rights campaigners and environmentalists. Human Rights Watch/Asia,
the international civil liberties organisation, has reported widespread
dissent among Chinese in the Three Gorges region and says 42 people were
sentenced recently to 20 years in prison to "safeguard the public
order of the Three Gorges area."
Export credit agency funding will be critical to the bidders' success.
The Export-Import Bank of Japan, with private Japanese financial institutions,
is providing buyers' credits of up to Y60bn (３00m); other international
credit agencies such as Coface of France, Hermes of Germany, EDC of Canada
and the Swiss government have indicated support. Backing will be "substantial"
for such a project, according to embassy representatives. The UK Export
Credits Guarantee Department says it is considering support after being
approached by a UK equipment supplier in the ABB-Kvaerner consortium-Kvaerner
owns the former Trafalgar House conglomerate. However, the ECDG has not
made any firm commitment to the project.
Mr. Patrick McCully, campaign director for International Rivers Network,
a Californian environmental group, says he is "disappointed, not surprised"
that other countries' export credit agencies are rushing to finance Three
Gorges because "there is so much money at stake". He had hoped
they would follow the US lead. But US power companies, including General
Electric and suppliers of heavy earth-moving equipment such as Caterpillar,
are pushing hard to persuade the administration to reconsider. They argue
that the Export-Import Bank went beyond its mandate in denying the funding.
Mr. McCully says it would be politically difficult for the bank to reverse
its position, however, because the project and the finance refusal have
become so high profile. And if it does change its mind, a coalition of
environmental groups is threatening to take it to court under the US law
protecting endangered species. At risk, says Mr. McCully, are sturgeon,
alligators and the Yangtse dolphin, of which only about 100 remain. For
its part, China is confident on funding.
According to Mr. Zhang of the construction committee, China expects half
the funds for the first stage, or about Yn70bn, to come from the state;
about a quarter in loans from the State Development Bank, which supports
big infrastructure projects; and the rest from foreign sources. Foreign
funding of about $4bn would involve both export credits and the sale of
bonds. China has not decided when to issue bonds internationally, but a
Y1bn domestic issue is expected this month, Mr. Zhang says. The issuer
will be the China Yangtse Three Gorges Development Company, the project's
commercial arm, whose borrowings would be regarded as sovereign risk since
the project comes directly under the State Council, or cabinet.
Mr. Ted Rule, executive director of the Hong Kong-based Asian Infrastructure
Fund, says the project is "too big" for most infrastructure investors.
He assumes, however, that Beijing will be prepared to ensure the necessary
bank guarantees are in place to raise the funding. Adding to the complexity
of the bidding process is the fact that China is demanding 25 per cent
local involvement in 12 of the 14 turbine-generating units, with the remaining
two to come primarily from Chinese manufacturers. The two designated suppliers
are the Harbin Electric Machinery Works in Heilongjiang province, northern
China, and the Dongfang Electric Machinery Works in south-western Sichuan
province.
Mr. Zhang says Bejing's "local content" requirement was "like
killing two birds with one stone". Foreign companies would be responsible
both for the overall quality of the turbine generating units and for providing
domestic industry with the ability to build such large units. Bidders have
been invited to tender for three basic combinations: consortia can bid
for all 14 turbine generators; they can go for nine or five; or seven apiece.
But within this "multiple choice" framework, consortia can also
bid for separate components such as electricity generators or the giant
turbines themselves. The bidders have no doubt the process will be arduous.
"The Chinese will make every effort to bring everyone down to the
lowest common denominator on price, and highest common denominator on quality,"
says one. Mr. Zhang says a decision has not been made on whether foreign
companies will be involved in the supply of the 12 generators to be located
on the south bank of the river in the second stage of the project. Bids
for the second stage will be sought in 1999 or 2000. If domestic producers
are competitive then all 12 would be domestically-built, he says-although
he adds it is "too soon" to make a judgment.
Among the six consortia, strongest contenders appear to be the Voith-Siemens-General
Electric consortium; GEC-Alsthom; the Japanese; and ABB-Kvaerner. ABB,
for example, supplied generators for the giant Itaipu hydropower project
in Brazil which is regarded as a benchmark by the Chinese. Voith, Siemens
and GEC-Alsthom were also involved in the Itaipu scheme. But participants
say the Three Gorges dwarfs other such projects, including the Bakun scheme
in Malaysia, and presents particular technical challenges, one of which
will be the rise in the water level behind the dam from 78 metres when
the first turbines come into operation in 2002 to 175m at completion in
2009.
This will require modifications to the turbines over the life of the project.
China, meanwhile, has reportedly set up half a dozen groups which have
been sequestered in isolated guest houses to evaluate the bids. A shortlist
is expected by mid-year. But whatever course the process takes it is certain
to be subject to intense rumour and speculation. "We would like to
see more transparency during the evaluation and negotiating process,"
says one of the bidders. "But we know that is probably too much to
expect."
Additional reporting by Nancy Dunne in Washington.
Graphic: GENERATING COMPETITION 1st stage bidders for Three Gorges dam
CONSORTIA
Financing GEC-Alsthom,
Coface Neyrpic of France
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Export-Import Hitachi, Mitsui, Itochu of Japan
Bank of Japan
Impsa of Argentina, Not Turboatom of Ukraine available Voith and Siemens
of Germany, Hermes, General Electric of Canada EDC of Canada LMZ (Energomachexport
of Swiss Russia, Sulzer of Switzerland) government ABB Power Gen of Swiss
Switzerland government Kvaerner of Norway ECGD of UK* *No firm commitment
Copyright 1997 Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The following news report
may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, without the
prior written consent of Reuters Ltd.
BEIJING, June 4 (Reuter) - China's huge and controversial Three Gorges
dam project has so far had no direct effect of the environment and ecology
of the mighty Yangtze River, the Financial News said on Wednesday. During
the first phase of construction of the world's biggest water control project,
the environmental effects of digging and earth moving had been limited
to the area around the construction zone, the official newspaper said.
Construction had so far had little impact on the economy of the area or
on the hundreds of thousands of people who eventually will be displaced
by the 39.3 billion cubic metre (1.4 trillion cubic ft) reservoir the dam
will create, it said. "Other negative effects are not apparent,"
it quoted an investigation by the National Environmental Protection Agency
as saying.
The decision to build the Three Gorges Dam on the middle reaches of the
Yangtze was highly controversial both abroad and in China, where many environmentalists
believe it will cause huge ecological damage and prove too costly. Officials
say the project to build the 175-metre (570 ft) dam in the central province
of Hubei will cost at least 240 billion yuan ($28.916 billion) by the time
it is completed in 2009, if interest and inflation are taken into account.
The Financial News said a monitoring network set up by the state environmental
agency and the Three Gorges office of the State Council, China's cabinet,
had created the basis for continuous monitoring of the project's impact.
Beijing says the dam is essential to tame flooding from the Yangtze and
fill a major energy shortfall in China's heartland.
($1 - 8.3 yuan) REU
朝日新聞ニュース速報
佐藤信二通産相は八日、北京入りし、中国のエネルギー・環境保護政策などを巡って、国家計画委員会の陳錦華主任と会談した。日本側の会談後の説明によると、中国の三峡ダム建設問題が取り上げられ、近く国際入札の結果が出る発電設備納入について、同通産相は「日本の技術を採用してもらえればありがたい」と述べた。日本政府は通産省の貿易保険と日本輸出入銀行の融資を適用し、企業連合を後押ししているが、陳主任は「日本企業の参加を歓迎する」と述べるにとどまった。
事業費約三兆円の三峡ダム建設による環境破壊については、陳主任も「中国内でもいろいろな見方がある」と述べたが、佐藤通産相は「日本政府として検討した結果、問題なしと判断した」と話した。七月中旬に結果が出るといわれる入札には欧米のほか、日本から日立製作所、東芝、三菱重工業、三菱電機などの八社連合が応札している。 会談で中国側は「環境破壊は自国民だけでなく、周辺の国にも影響を与える。環境と経済開発を両立させることが重要」との認識を強調。「現在、四分の三を石炭に頼っているエネルギー構成の転換に力を入れている。石炭の液化や、ガス化、石油、天然ガス、水力、原子力、太陽光利用のほか、ガソリンの無鉛化を進めていく」と説明した。
[1997-06-08-23:29]