Dam Project To Displace Millions More In China

SHANGHAI, Oct. 11 — The Chinese government has announced that it will relocate an additional three million to four million people from the banks of the Yangtze River because of the construction of the Three Gorges Dam.

According to a report by the official Xinhua news agency on Wednesday, the relocations will take place over a period of 10 to 15 years.

They are required because of mounting concerns about pollution in a new lake created by the dam, and because of the proliferation of unforeseen landslides as the riverbank’s walls collapse in many places.

“The reservoir area has a vulnerable ecological environment, and the natural conditions make large-scale urbanization or serious overpopulation impossible here,” said the vice mayor of Chongqing, Yu Yuanmu, according to Xinhua.

Chongqing, one of China’s largest and fastest-growing cities, sits at the western end of the dam’s 400-mile-long reservoir and will absorb many of the displaced people.