Latest comments posted about A watershed moment on ChinaDialogue en-gb http://www.chinadialogue.cn/article/show/single/en/3326-A-watershed-moment http://staging.chinadialogue.net/images/cdlogo.gif http://www.chinadialogue.cn/article/show/single/en/3326-A-watershed-moment Ken Ng (M.Sc. Environmental Pollution Control, B. Eng (mech)) All major engineering projects have benefits and costs, positive and negative impacts. The effects of the 3 gorges dam are not that much different from other dams in other parts of the world - Snowy mountain dam in Australia and Hoover dam in America. Helpful criticism is welcomed in China but misinformation and dubious innuendoes targeted at fostering social unrest are not acceptable anywhere in the world. The dam project has increased energy security, mitigated CO2 emissions, improved flood mitigation, etc. The problems that the article mentioned are being studied and appropriate control measures are being implemented by China. Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:36:05 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.cn/article/summary/3326#comment-9905 http://www.chinadialogue.cn/article/summary/3326#comment-9905 Thank you for pointing out the link between the Three Gorges Dam and overseas projects. Chinese hydropower companies acquired the technology to develop such projects overseas when they built the Three Gorges Dam in joint venture agreements with their Western competitors. Many foreign governments have been invited to visit the Three Gorges Dam as a model for their own hydropower projects in recent years. I believe that China's effort to develop renewable energy and energy efficiency are a better model for the 21st century, and was happy to see that the Chinese government announced cooperation with Africa in these fields at the recent FOCAC summit in Egypt. I will explore the connection between the Three Gorges Project and global dam building trends in the next issue of Foreign Policy Journal. Peter Bosshard Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:51:18 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.cn/article/summary/3326#comment-9531 http://www.chinadialogue.cn/article/summary/3326#comment-9531 A very balanced article. However, there was no mention of the large number of controversial hydro-electric projects which China is building overseas at considerable economic, social and environmental cost to the recipient countries. Due to those costs, other donor countries have tended to be unwilling to finance most of these projects. For example, the dam of the Bui hydro-electric project in Ghana is being built so tall that, if the reservoir were full, the water level would cause flooding in neighbouring Ivory Coast. Consequently, the project must operate at less than its designed capacity and Ghana has become indebted to China for something it can not fully use. Through subsidies, the government of Ghana already pays consumers to use electricity. There is much wastage in distributing that electricty due to poor maintenance and management. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:28:10 +0000 http://www.chinadialogue.cn/article/summary/3326#comment-9527 http://www.chinadialogue.cn/article/summary/3326#comment-9527