The China Three Gorges Project Corporation is reported to be ignoring a government order to halt construction of the massive Xiluodu Dam due to environmental concerns and could face big fines.

The builder of the Three Gorges Dam, the world��s largest hydroelectric project, has not abided by a Jan. 18 order from the State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), Beijing News reported.

It had been told to stop construction of the controversial Xiluodu Dam in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River as there were no environmental assessment reports.

The company has also ignored orders to halt construction of the Three Gorges Underground Power Plant and the Three Gorges Project Electrical Power Supply Plant, the report said.

The power projects were among 30 large-scale projects ordered by SEPA to stop last month because of a lack of mandatory environmental impact assessments.

So far only 22 had been complied with, while the Three Gorges company had become the largest violator of the order, the paper said.

Workers near the dam Tuesday confirmed construction was continuing. Last week the company denied the projects were in violation of the law.

��The corporation has all along abided by the law and has built our projects in accordance with the law, there has been no violation of the environment law in the three power station projects,�� the company��s general manager surnamed Li told the 21st Century Business Herald.

According to the Beijing News, if the company refuses to comply it can be fined up to 200,000 yuan (US$24,000), a mere slap on the wrist for China��s largest hydroelectric power company.

The Xiluodu Dam, in the southwestern province of Yunnan, is expected to be the first of four huge hydroelectric projects on the Jinsha River, which is the western and main tributary of the Yangtze River. It is expected to have a design capacity of 12.6 million kilowatts.

The dam has proved controversial as some 34,000 residents are having to be relocated and it will flood some of the world��s most spectacular canyons and gorges.

Source: Shenzhen Daily-Agencies