The Chinese Government will invest some 5 billion yuan (600 million
US dollars) in the next few years to bolster the orange and animal
husbandry industries at Three Gorges to create jobs for hundreds of
thousands of resettled residents.
Qi
Lin, deputy director of the Three Gorges Project Construction
Committee under the State Council, said Tuesday that the
state-bolstered industries have been jointly planned by the State
Development Planning Commission and the ministries of agriculture
and technology to improve the lives of residents who were displaced
to make way for the construction of the world's largest
hydroelectric power project and to develop a sustainable economy in
the dam area.
More than 100,000 workers will be laid off from over 500
technically-backward firms which have ordered to shut down by the
end of this year due to serious pollution emissions and outdated
production technologies in the dam area of the Three Gorges
Hydropower Project, said the project regulatory official.
Meanwhile, 80,000 rural residents will be moving into new
resettlement townships this year, which will only add to the
unemployment problem in the Three Gorges dam area.
Noting that the area is one of the ideal orange-cultivation areas
in the world, Qi Lin said that of the total government
appropriation, 3.8 billion yuan (46 million US dollars) will be
allocated into developing the orange industry.
It
will take eight to ten years to establish the industry with an
annual processing capacity of 5 million tons of oranges, according
to the plan.
China's largest private-owned juice producer, the Huiyuan Beverage
and Food Co., signed a deal earlier this year to build a 1
million-ton orange processing line at Three Gorges, which will
become the largest orange processing plant in Asia around the year
2010.
China's juice producers rely heavily on the imports of juice
extract to produce fruit beverages, especially oranges, said Qi.
The production line of Huiyuan will not only put an end with the
dependence, but create a large number of jobs in the dam area.
Another 1.1 billion yuan (132 million US dollars) will be used to
develop animal husbandry, which envisages breeding some 1 million
cattle, 4 million sheep, 3.3 million rabbits and 5 million
geese.
With the implementation of the "Grain for Green Project," Qi said,
the largest areas of reclaimed farmland will be returned to
pastures, woods and forests in the dam area, which will serve as
adequate grazing fields for the animal husbandry industry.
In
addition, a 100 million-yuan (12 million US dollars) meat
processing plant built by China's largest meat processing
company,the Shuanghui Group, will kick off production by the end of
October this year.
Apart from the above two industries, the government will also lend
substantial support to developing tourism, Qi added.
According to the forecast by local tourism authority, more than 20
million tourists are likely to tour Three Gorges annually once the
project is completed in 2009. In addition to visiting the world's
highest dam, they will enjoy the orchards and fishing at the
vicinity of the gigantic dam.
( September 18, 2002)