After watching
Up the Yangtze, I thought I'd do some research about the shopkeeper's (at least, I think the shopkeeper said it) claims that the dam will benefit the country as a whole and that if some people need to be relocated, then so be it (very loose paraphrasing, one that is a bad representation of his words). According to Water Power Magazine, the total cost will be 180B Yuan or roughly 22.5B dollars. Of this, around 69B Yuan will be spent on relocation, which translates to 11B dollars. There are roughly 1.3 million people relocated, so after doing some division, that's roughly 8600 yuan per person. But here's the kicker: in 2000, 97 officials were convicted of embezzling money from that fund. So then that means that the people who were most hurt by the dam, get the least from it, both in terms of relocation money and the power that the dam generates. The energy is redistributed to more wealthy areas of China, so the sacrifices made by the poor have a poor return. But as long as the country benefits, it
should be worth it (I'm not saying it is). When will China make a return on their investment, or should I say, the peasants sacrifice? Not until around 2015, a full 22 years after the beginning of the undertaking (started in 1993, people not relocated until mid 2000's).
As far as progress goes, yes sacrifices will be made. But in general, the sacrifices are supposed to allow for better and/or safer living. Ripping the homes of 1.3 million people is no small thing. Understandably, as a percentage, it's very small: China has a population of 1.35 billion, so .096%. But that's also the entire population of Trinidad and Tobago or all of Hawaii. Sure, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, but not when the "few" is 1.3 million.
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1925172.stm
- http://www.waterpowermagazine.com/story.asp?storyCode=2041318
- http://www.ctgpc.com.cn/sx/news.php?mNewsId=29096 (translated into English)
- http://chinaneast.xinhuanet.com/jszb/2009-01/11/content_15419027.htm (translated into English)
- http://www.geohive.com/
- http://blog.movebuilder.com/posts/10-largest-us-cities-by-population
- https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/td.html
I guess just some numbers would be a more appropriate title.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is unfortunate for the 1.3 million people who have to be relocated and that officials should not be embezzling money from the fund, but China is expanding at such a rapid rate that it is sometimes necessary for its citizens to make sacrifices. We also have to consider how this dam will benefit China. This dam will not only bring power to areas that have none, it will also begin to replace the other plants that are producing power for China, namely coal. China has the world's most coal plants and coal is by far the worst pollutant for the environment. This dam is a huge step in battling climate change and one that the world cannot afford to cancel. It is unfortunate that these 1.3 million people are being displaced, but the dam isn't just benefiting China, it's benefiting the entire world.
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