The reservoir of the Three Gorges project will be filled on June 1
as scheduled, said a senior official in charge of the project
Wednesday.
Lu
Youmei, vice chairman of the Committee for the Construction of
Three Gorges Project under the State Council, said that work on the
project is going smoothly as planned.
About 80 officials with relevant administrations under the State
Council and experts are testing the reservoir and ship lock before
they are put into operation.
The water level of the reservoir will be raised to 135 meters by
June 15 and the 6.4-km-long ship lock will be put into use on the
same day.
The total investment in the project will reach 180 billion yuan,20
billion less than expected, Lu said.
By
March this year 91 billion yuan had already been invested in the
project.
Two power generating units, each with a capacity of 700,000
kilowatts, will be put into operation in August and another two
will be in use in October.
The whole project is expected to be completed in 2009.
(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2003)