1.27 million displaced by China's Three Gorges Dam

[phantom power]

BEIJING (AFP) – China has relocated 1.27 million people to make way for the controversial Three Gorges dam development, the world's largest hydroelectric project, state media reported.

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Chinese officials have previously said 1.4 million people were to be subject to forced relocation from areas now submerged or due to be submerged in central China.

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Critics of the dam have long alleged massive corruption in the resettlement programme, while villagers forced from their homes have complained they were denied promised job retraining and resettlement funds.

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A further four million people have been "encouraged" to move from the area by 2020, officials said in 2007, although the government has insisted those relocations were unrelated to the dam.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090914/sc_afp/chinadamthreegorgesenvironmentresettlement

[ixion]

1. There's a very powerful documentary on this called Up the Yangtze

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Up_the_Yangtze/70084172?trkid=496751

It's very sad to see how these people have had their lives torn apart by this project.

[David__77]

2. It's very sad that hundreds of thousands died in river floods that now will be prevented.

This dam is a vital step forward in China's national development.

[David__77]

3. The problem is inadequate support to those relocated.

The majority of those relocated now live in superior housing to what they had previously. Unfortunately, the state isn't doing nearly enough to support them in paying for it. Many are barely holding on - or not holding on at all. Some "socialism" that is...