BEIJING, May 23 (IPS) - China is emerging as a new backer of massive
dam projects around the globe, giving rise to fears for pristine
natural resources and the cultural heritage of river peoples.

Already home to nearly half of the world's dams, China intends to
more than double its hydropower generating capacity by 2020 by adding
a series of new dams across the country. More significantly, in
recent years, Beijing has been ambitious about financing and building
dams, both close to home in Asia as well as in half-a-dozen African
countries.

In South-east Asia, Chinese officials are focusing on the
Salween, the last major river left in Asia that has not been dammed.
Plans are afoot to create a cascade of 13 dams across the Salween
(called the Nu river in China) and Beijing recently signed a deal
with Burma's government to build another dam on the river inside the
country.

There are more dam projects planned for the neighbouring
countries of Laos and Cambodia and long-standing plans to build
reservoirs on the Chinese side of international rivers like the Mekong.

Commenting on China's new role, Peter Bosshard, policy director
of International Rivers Network, a California-based non-governmental
organisation (NGO), said: "They didn't have the technology and the
expertise before, but these days we see more and more of China's
involvement in various dam projects around the world".

The turning point came perhaps with the construction of the Three
Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River -- the world's largest hydropower
project. The 185-metre high dam across Asia's longest river, is
perceived here as a milestone in the country's history of hydraulic
innovation. The dam structure was finished in 2006 and the whole
project would be completed by 2009.

Chinese companies working on the dam along with their foreign
partners benefited from the extensive technology transfer
requirements imposed by the government. These newly acquired skills
and know-how, coupled with heavy financing in hydro-capacity and
support from state financial groups are now transforming China into a
global hydraulic power.

But as much as a source of pride and confidence for Chinese
officials, the Three Gorges Dam has been a symbol of stifled national
opposition. China's largest infrastructure project to date, the dam
was designed and constructed without any public participation of the
affected communities.

Roughly a million people have been displaced from their ancestral
places so far, unique antiquities destroyed and natural habitats
submerged during the construction. Dam opponents argue that social
and environmental costs of the project would ultimately outweigh the
benefits of hydropower and flood control touted by government officials.

"China favours a top-down approach in dam building, where
everything is decided between officials and local people are
excluded," says Ali Askouri, president of the Piankhi Research Group
based in London. "This is a very dangerous approach to apply anywhere
but especially in Africa, because it can generate a lot of social
strife."

China is currently backing at least 10 dam projects in Africa, in
various countries like Sudan, Ethiopia, Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria,
Republic of Congo and Mozambique. Nearly all of them have been
financed through China Exim Bank, the country's official export
credit agency, often as part of bigger cooperation packages including
energy deals and minerals extraction.

China's accelerated investment spree in African projects has come
under scrutiny from various international observers for undermining
Western attempts to improve governance and reduce corruption in
African countries.

For instance, to maintain access to Sudan's rich oil supplies,
China has refused to censure the internationally ostracised regime of
Khartoum. Meanwhile, in Angola, which is now China's largest supplier
of oil, there are concerns that Beijing's no-strings-attached
investment in infrastructure is undoing the IMF's and World Bank's
efforts to strengthen transparency.

Coming with few high benchmarks on human rights and good
governance, Chinese investment for many African dams has fuelled
controversy because of Beijing's alleged disregard for environmental
concerns and the plight of displaced people.

A case in point is the Merowe Dam in Sudan, built by two Chinese
companies and financed by China Exim Bank, which is displacing some
50,000 local people from fertile lands in the Nile Valley to harsh
desert lands against their will. Protests by local people who had
demanded to be resettled at the shores of the new reservoir rather
than in the proposed arid desert have been violently suppressed by
the authorities.

"Chinese engineers on the dam site are fully aware of the
repression going on around them but they never interact with local
people," said Ali Askouri, who represents the dam-affected
communities at Merowe. "It is hard to speak of any sense of
development when those who are supposed to promote it are hiding in
camps guarded 24-hours by professional security companies."

Social and environmental costs aside, China's own safety record
is another factor worrying experts. China, which has built more dams
than any other country in the world, admitted in April that many of
them are "time bombs" that threaten the lives and property of people
living downstream.

Jiao Yong, vice minister of water resources, said the cost of
repairing the unsound structures would be around 700 million U.S.
dollars annually over the next three years. "It is a huge task," Jiao
told a national meeting on the repair of dangerous reservoirs in April.

Chinese leaders continue to see hydropower as a priority strategy
for the country's rapid economic development, but there are signs
that they are also becoming more responsive to public concerns about
big infrastructure projects at home.

Water Minister Wang Shucheng spoke recently against "dramatic and
unscientific projects" in the country's water management, saying that
building a "water-saving society" is more important.

Public pressure has prompted Beijing to halt plans to dam the
scenic Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Jinsha river. Opposition has also
delayed approval to some of the dams on the Salween while a
development plan on water resources is being drawn up.

The awakening of China's green consciousness is a welcome sign
for water experts and activists abroad. "We only hope that what
Beijing is already doing inside the country with the help of its
environmental watchdog would be applied also in Africa and other
places where Chinese companies are building dams," commented
Bosshard. (END/IPSAP)