¡¡ THREE GORGES SITE, June 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday described as vital achievements the filling of
Three Gorges reservoir and the successful trial navigation of the ship lock.
¡¡ In his written comments, Wen attributed these achievements to the hard
work of the builders of the Three Gorges dam project, the contributions made by
the people relocated from the submerged reservoir areas, and the support of
people from all walks of life across the country.
¡¡¡¡The new Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River opened to shipping on Monday
as two passenger ships and five freight vesselspassed through the lock in two
hours and 35 minutes, concluding at11:55 a.m.
¡¡¡¡Zhang Qingsong, director of the Three Gorges Navigation Bureau,announced
later the maiden trial navigation via the permanent shiplock, which began at 9
a.m. (Beijing Time) was a great success.
¡¡¡¡The trial navigation will last for about a year as engineers fine-tune and
test the lock.
¡¡¡¡The success of the maiden trial navigation signified the resumption of
shipping on the Yangtze River after its suspension of 67 straight days for the
dam project.
¡¡¡¡Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan launched the trial navigation at the dam site.
¡¡¡¡Addressing to a ceremony attended by nearly 1,000 construction workers at
the dam site, he said the Three Gorges dam project had begun to pay off after a
decade of construction.
The vice-premier called on engineers working for the dam
project to do a good job in preparing for trial operation of the first group of
power generating units at the dam.
¡¡¡¡It was critical to step up efforts to formulate regulations on management
of the project to ensure the safe and stable operation of the relevant
facilities, and to prevent geological disasters and water pollution in reservoir
areas, he said.
¡¡¡¡The two-way five-step lock, the largest in the world, was builtentirely by
Chinese engineers after solving a number of unprecedented technical
difficulties.
¡¡¡¡The lock, completed after about a decade of strenuous work at acost of some
6.2 billion yuan (about 750 million US dollars), features a two-way lifting
facility for the 113-meter drop betweenthe upstream and downstream separated by
the gigantic dam.
¡¡¡¡With the permanent ship lock in operation, ships will be able to pass
through the dam in about two-and-a-half hours via the 6.44-km dock on the
northern bank of the Yangtze.
¡¡¡¡The lock has 24 lock gates, each weighing 867 tons, which were built
entirely by China's two flagship shipyards located in Wuhan,the capital city of
central Hubei province, and in Shanghai, east China.
¡¡¡¡Previous trial operations and tests have shown that the gates and relevant
opening and closing mechanisms comply with sophisticated international
standards.
¡¡¡¡The metallic structures and electronic equipment of the lock gates were
made and installed by 16 large Chinese enterprises from14 provinces and
municipalities.
¡¡¡¡Scheduled for completion in 2009, the Three Gorges project willstart to pay
dividends this year, playing a vital role in flood control, hydro-power
generation, navigation, water diversion and environmental protection. Enditem
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