$24 bn project brings worst drought in 50 years..what would a $65 bn project bring???
An engineering marvel is created. Well thought about, well planned, well designed, well executed...well??? It cost $24 bn to build the World’s largest Hydro power project - The Three Gorges Dam by China. It was completed well before the schedule. It provides 18400 MW of electricity which is unfathomable by many other Hydro power projects. Its back waters created a reservoir of water which is as big as UK in length.
Now, the flip side..It displaced half a million population and thounsads of towns. The weight of the water stored in the reservoir is only adding to the woes of the land slides, tremors in and around the area. The river is getting more and more polluted since the 1.3 mile long concrete barrier diverted the migration of fish which otherwise would have preserved the sanctity of water in the river. Topping the charts are the facts that Central China, where the project is located is reeling under 50 year drought and that two of Southern China’s largest lakes have almost dried up.
China for the first time has accepted the fact that the dam is creating more problems than the ones that were envisaged.
If these were not enough, China is planning for a $64 bn cross country water transportation programme which would transport water through various canals, projects, tunnels to the thirsty Northern China where all the major cities like Beijing are located. Even before the dynamics of a single project of Three Gorges are well understood, this project worth $64 bn named as South-North Diversion project would certainly have such great impact on the economy that I can’t even think about.
This is the way most of us are headed towards. The development is happening only at the cost of nature and ecology. We are reveling about the engineering marvels that are being created and demonising the traditional methods of living. But we seem to forget that we cannot overcome nature and that the only way forward is to go along with the nature. Iam not sure how would the world look like, if the pace of growth in this format continues.
The only thing that I can think about is, as Dr. Malcolm in ‘Lost World’ says “Nature will Finds its ways”...
I can just pray that humans are considered in the grand plan of nature while it finds its ways!!!
Now, the flip side..It displaced half a million population and thounsads of towns. The weight of the water stored in the reservoir is only adding to the woes of the land slides, tremors in and around the area. The river is getting more and more polluted since the 1.3 mile long concrete barrier diverted the migration of fish which otherwise would have preserved the sanctity of water in the river. Topping the charts are the facts that Central China, where the project is located is reeling under 50 year drought and that two of Southern China’s largest lakes have almost dried up.
China for the first time has accepted the fact that the dam is creating more problems than the ones that were envisaged.
If these were not enough, China is planning for a $64 bn cross country water transportation programme which would transport water through various canals, projects, tunnels to the thirsty Northern China where all the major cities like Beijing are located. Even before the dynamics of a single project of Three Gorges are well understood, this project worth $64 bn named as South-North Diversion project would certainly have such great impact on the economy that I can’t even think about.
This is the way most of us are headed towards. The development is happening only at the cost of nature and ecology. We are reveling about the engineering marvels that are being created and demonising the traditional methods of living. But we seem to forget that we cannot overcome nature and that the only way forward is to go along with the nature. Iam not sure how would the world look like, if the pace of growth in this format continues.
The only thing that I can think about is, as Dr. Malcolm in ‘Lost World’ says “Nature will Finds its ways”...
I can just pray that humans are considered in the grand plan of nature while it finds its ways!!!
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