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| The Three Gorges |
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Currently the Three Gorges region is most famous for the Three Gorges Dam. When completed, the $25 billion Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River will be the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. With an installed generating capacity of 18,200 MW, the dam will span more than two kilometers across, and tower 185 meters above, the world’s third longest river. Its reservoir will stretch over 600 kilometers upstream and force the displacement of more than 1.3 million people. Construction began in 1994 and is scheduled for completion by 2009. Construction on the dam itself was completed in May 2006. a dam one and a half miles wide and more than 600 feet high that will create a reservoir hundreds of feet deep and nearly 400 miles long. The reservoir, its engineers say, will enable 10,000-ton ocean-going freighters to sail directly into the nation's interior for six months of each year, opening a region burgeoning with agricultural and manufactured products. And the dam's hydropower turbines are expected to create as much electricity as 18 nuclear power plants.
Because the water level will be higher, the river will be wider and the mountains will appear lower. Proponents of the dam point out that because the mountains reach several thousand feet above the river, the gorges are still likely to offer spectacular views of the surrounding cliffs, and it should be noted that most riverboat companies that operate in the Three Gorges intend to continue to offer tours of the region. The increase in width of the Gorges will also allow larger ships through the gorges, and it is anticipated that river traffic of all kinds will increase.