YICHANG, Hubei Province, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Demolition experts on Friday finished setting explosives to demolish the last cofferdam built in the construction of central China's Three Gorges dam.

    A total 192 tons of dynamite had been set in more than 1,700 locations, said Song Ling, general manager of Chongqing Gezhouba Yipuli Chemical Co., who is in charge of this explosion early nextweek.

    Song added the next step was to build a detonator network.

    "This operation has no precedent in the world and requires precision techniques to demolish the cofferdam without damaging the main dam," Zhou Guisong, deputy chief engineer of the Chongqing Gezhouba Yipuli Chemical Co., said earlier.

    The cofferdam, which has been in use since 2003, is 114 meters upstream of the Three Gorges Dam. It is 580 meters long and 140 meters high.

    The Three Gorges Dam, in Hubei Province, was completed on May 20, and the demolition of the cofferdam means the mammoth project will formally begin its role in flood control, two years ahead of the schedule.

    The China Three Gorges Project Corporation said last month thatthe dam would help prevent flooding on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

    The 185-meter-high Three Gorges dam will be capable of holding 22.15 billion cubic meters of water and the water level will normally be kept at 175 meters when it is fully completed by the end of 2008. Enditem