MATCHING HEADINGS TO PARAGRAPHS

The Three Gorges Dam Project http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/ielts/main.htm#re#01
A) BACKGROUND TO THE PROYECT
China's Yangtze River has been the transportation lifeline of a productive region, stretching from Sichuan Province to the eastern coast, for many centuries. The Grand Canal, begun in the 5th and extended in the 7th and 14th centuries, provided links to southern and especially northern China, including Beijing. In the 19th century, Shanghai and inland settlements developed as ports of trade with connections to the West. Sun Yat-Sen first proposed a dam at Three Gorges in 1919 and Mao Tse-Tung ordered feasibility studies in the mid-1950s, after devastating floods. Work finally began in 1994, amid unprecedented dissention and controversy.

B) PURPOSE AND DIMENSIONS AN THE PROJECT
There are thousands of dams in the Yangtze Basin meeting the high regional demand for irrigation and electricity, but only two of them (the Three Gorges and Gezhou) are on the river itself. The Three Gorges Dam is at Sanduping, near Yichang. Completion is expected in 2009, with an estimated 250,000 workers currently involved in the project. It will measure more than 200 m (600 ft) high and 1.6 km (1 mile) long, will create a reservoir 650 km (400 miles) long and will generate over 18,000 megawatts of electricity; making it larger and more productive than any other hydroelectric facility. The dam is also designed to control flooding, which has claimed more than 1 million lives in the past 100 years, and to improve navigation upriver. Officials hope the combination of inexpensive electricity and cheap river transportation will encourage international investment.

C) PRODUCTION AND CONSTRUCTION PROBLEMS
Nevertheless, the project has drawn intense criticism, both national and international.
Firstly, widespread allegations of corruption among officials involved with the project have raised fears of shoddy construction . In 1999, Premier Zhu Rongji warned those involved that their responsibility was "heavier than a mountain" and continued; "Any carelessness or negligence will bring disaster to our future generations and cause irretrievable losses". In 2000, 53 engineers and academics petitioned President Jiang Zemin to delay full filling of the reservoir and relocating the local population until scientists could determine whether the reservoir was viable given the various problems. But construction continued, as did scandals including bribery, embezzlement of funds, nepotism and job selling.

D) BUDGET DIFFICULTIES AND DISSENTION
Secondly, the project is thought to have cost more than any other single construction project in history, with estimates of over US$75 billion. Supporters claimed that the plan is within its US$25 billion budget and that the project would pay for itself through electricity generation. They further argued that demand would rise once a new national transmission grid is in place. But opponents believe that by the time demand has increased, competition from cheaper, superior alternatives will have won the ratepayers, unless they are forced to buy the Three Gorges power, or unless the government subsidizes the power. Critics also worry that other projects in need of investment will suffer as China concentrates all its financial resources on the project. Experts believe that the project faces a shortage of funds, especially since many foreign financiers and governments, with some notable exceptions, have considered the dam too risky to get involved.

E)SOCIAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS
Thirdly, the new reservoir will inundate many towns and cities, displacing between 1 and 2 million people. The lands they have been offered in compensation for ancestral lands is less fertile than those lost and may require use of unfamiliar farming methods. Corruption and poor construction have delayed new housing or resulted in sub-standard buildings. Journalist and engineer Dai Qing, who was jailed for criticizing the Three Gorges project, calls it "the most environmentally and socially destructive project in the world."

F) HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS
Archaeologists and historians have estimated nearly 1,300 important sites will be submerged, destroying cultural remnants up to 4000 years old. In addition, tourism associated with the Three Gorges as a physical and cultural attraction may come to an end.

G) ENVIROMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
Finally, but perhaps most importantly, many leading scientists predict the Three Gorges Dam represents an environmental disaster on many levels. Little or no attempt has been made to remove toxic materials and other pollutants from inundated industrial sites, thus creating a huge potential health hazard. The relative lack of waste treatment plants in China also could mean run-off from communities around the dam would go untreated directly into the reservoir. The dam may erode the fragile upper slopes of the gorges. As a result, sediment may accumulate as well as industrial pollutants, leading to increased silting of its mouth and pollution of the delta. The project will necessitate extensive logging in the area and may erode much of the coastline. Wildlife experts believe that many life forms will suffer, including species of fish, waterfowl and that the endangered Chinese river dolphin, of which fewer than 100 individuals remain, will become extinct because the dam's construction will destroy its present habitat.

Despite the dissenting voices, construction continues and the consensus is that China's leaders have too great a political investment in the dam's completion to ever contemplate backing away from the project.