China's big projects raise hackles

By Willy Wo-Lap Lam
CNN.com Senior China Analyst

HONG KONG, China -- Experts and parliamentarians in Beijing have expressed reservations about the efficiency and environmental impact of a number of mega-projects proposed by the government last week.

Premier Zhu Rongji and senior ministers have lobbied for National People's Congress support for several infrastructure projects deemed key to developing the western and central provinces.

The multi-billion yuan schemes include the 1,118 km Qinghai-Tibet railway, as well as projects to move water from southern to northern China, and to transport gas and electricity from western to coastal China.

The Qinghai-Tibet railway, the first rail-line into Tibet, has been billed as the star project of the just-announced 10th Five Year Plan (2001-2005).

The Beijing-affiliated Hong Kong daily Wen Wei Po reported on Wednesday that top leaders including President Jiang Zemin and Zhu had expressed personal concern for the success of the project.

In view of the leadership's high-profile imprimatur, few academics or NPC members have openly expressed dissent.

However, given the small population in both the Qinghai and Tibet regions, doubts have been cast on the economic value of the line.

The Southern Weekend newspaper in Guangdong quoted experts as saying that "the short-term economic benefits [of the link] are not commensurate with the tens of billion yuan of investment."

Stability of region

The paper said the railroad probably made sense because of "broad military and political considerations" such as the stability of the autonomous region.

Western diplomats familiar with Tibet said the railroad could facilitate the migration into Tibet by Han Chinese from the eastern provinces.

Because of the sensitivity of the question, Beijing authorities have not given details on plans for moving Han Chinese into Tibet or Xinjiang during the period covered by the five-year blueprint.

Southern Weekend pointed out 550 km of the railroad would be located in chronically frozen land.

"Given the harsh climate, the vegetation cover in this region has come about extremely slowly," the official paper said. "If the vegetation is damaged [by engineering works], it will be very difficult to recover."

While talking to NPC deputies, the Vice Minister of Railways Sun Yongfu acknowledged the "far-reaching impact [if the rail link] in political, economic and military terms."

He added advanced foreign technology to be used, including expertise on frozen-soil engineering, would minimize disruptions to the environment.

Controversy has also erupted over the project to move water -- including that from the Yangtze River -- from the southern to the north provinces.

The official media has indicated that this involves the construction of thousands of kilometres of aquaducts and that the bill could exceed that for the Three Gorges scheme.

Deputies attending the NPC and the just-ended Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) have expressed misgivings about the damage to the environment. For example, at least 222,000 people will have to be resettled.

Several CPPCC members pointed out the money should have been used instead for water conservation. Others said since most of the waterways in southern China are polluted, the scheme would only spread the pollution further afield.

According to CPPCC deputy Wang Jirong, the authorities should abide by the principle of "putting conservation before engineering works; putting pollution control before moving the water; and putting the environment before water supply."

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