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Empresas y finanzas

Last Three Gorges Dam migrants evacuate as water rises


    BEIJING (Reuters) - China has finished evacuating the last town to be submerged by the giant Three Gorges Dam, making way for water levels in the reservoir to rise to their final height of 175 metres above sea level, state media said.

    The final residents of Gaoyang in central Hubei provinceleft on Tuesday, the end of an exodus that began four yearsago, the official Xinhua agency reported.

    In total, some 1.4 million people have been moved to makeway for the waters behind a 2,309-metre-long dam, the world'slargest hydroelectric feat. It aims to tame the Yangtze Riverand provide clean, cheap energy for China's rapid development.

    Critics of the dam say that pollution and geologicalthreats are piling up. Scientists have said that rising watersin the 660-km (400-mile) long reservoir have strained alreadybrittle slopes, triggering landslides, which may worsen whenwaters reach a maximum height.

    A big mudslide hit a village in the Gaoyang area in April,sweeping into the local school's playground and part of thevillage. And a landslide nearby killed 35 people late lastyear.

    But officials said last year that 12 billion yuan (882million pounds) had been allocated over past years to"geological repairs", and they were confident that such effortswere working.

    Finished in 2003, the water level has risen in stages,reaching 156 metres in 2006. It is expected to reach its finalheight next year.

    (Reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Nick Macfie)