Construction of China`s Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River is expected to be completed on Saturday. Here are some key facts about the Three Gorges project, which will be the world`s biggest flood control and hydropower station when completed in 2009:

* The project is located near what was the town of Sandouping in the central province of Hubei on the Yangtze, China`s longest and mightiest river.

* The dam`s reservoir is 185 metres (607 ft) in height and 2,309 m (7,575 ft) in length and can store up to 39.3 billion cubic metres of water.

* At full capacity, the dam will be capable of generating 18,200 megawatts of electricity from 26 power turbines.

* The dam and attached locks have consumed 27 million cubic metres (950 million cubic feet) of concrete. The total amount of metal used on the project is expected to reach 281,000 tonnes.

* The reservoir created by the dam has inundated nearly 600 km (370 miles) of land, including two cities, 11 counties and 116 towns in Hubei and neighbouring Chongqing municipality. More than 1 million people have been relocated, 1,599 factories submerged.

* The dam`s final price tag, estimated at US$10.8 billion in 1993, is expected to reach US$25 billion.

* One of its main functions is to tame the Yangtze`s floods, which have drowned countless thousands over the centuries.

* Environmentalists fear the project will cause severe pollution and silting by slowing the river`s flow with waste from the remnants of abandoned factory sites, homes and hospitals.
(Sources: Reuters; Three Gorges Project Corporation (www.ctgpc.com), 19/05/2006)
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