Foreign supervisors have played an important role in ensuring the quality of huge turbine generating units for the mammonth Three Gorges water control project in the middle reaches of the Yangtze, China's second longest river.

On the basis of public bidding, China Yangtze Three Gorges Project Development Corporation appointed foreign engineers as supervisors for the designing and manufacturing of its 14 700,000-kw turbine generating units, which have started operation on the northern bank of the Yangtze.

The 14 units were built at 10-odd factories in nine nations. To ensure quality, the Three Gorges project development corporation inked a manufacturing supervision contract with the France-based BV/EDF in May 1999 at a cost of 5.8 million US dollars.

Under the accord, the French company dispatched engineering supervisors to 15 factories in Canada, Germany, Brazil, France, Spain, Switzerland, the Republic of Korea and China.

Cao Guangjing, vice general manager of the Three Gorges project development corporation, said the appointment of experienced foreign supervisors has proved effective and efficient.

Cao added that by September 18, the Three Gorges power station had been operating safely for 668 days.

The gigantic water control project will have 26 generators and will have an annual generating capacity of 84.7 billion kwh of electricity when it is completed in 2009.

Source: Xinhua