An expert team dispatched by the State Council, China's cabinet, has give an "A" to the quality of the giant Three Gorges Project after a five-day on-the-spot inspection.

The power generators installation and the construction of the underground workshops went on well at the finished section of the gigantic dam attached to the northern bank of Yangtze River, said Pan Jiazheng, a member with China's Academy of Engineering and also head of the expert control panel of the Three Gorges Project Construction Committee.

In addition, no penetrating fissures that could potentially undermine the overall structure have been detected at the other section of the dam which was built from the southern bank of the Yangtze River and was near completion, Pan was quoted by the Monday's Beijing News as saying.

Pan led the team to begin the 15th overall quality inspection of the Three Gorges Project on April 3 and they have also listened reports made by the the China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation which is in charge of the project.

All the 14 turbo-generators had been installed at the northern bank section of the dam and they had cumulatively generated 100 billion kwh of electricity by February this year since they began power generation by Sept. 16, 2006, said Li Yong'an, general manager of the corporation

Twelve more turbo-generators will be installed on the southern bank of the Yangtze. It is expected that the first generator on the southern bank of the river will go into production in 2007, said Li.

Situated near the Xiling Gorge, the eastern most gorge of the Three Gorges on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the Three Gorges Dam is designed to have a length of 2,309 meters and a height of 185 meters.

It will also have the functions for flood control, power generation, navigation upon completion and will be built from northern and southern banks of the flood-prone Yangtze.

Launched in 1993, the Three Gorges Project, including the 185-m-high dam and 26 generators on both banks of the Yangtze, is planned to be completed in 2009 and by then, it will be able to generate 84.7 billion kwh of electricity annually.

Source: Xinhua