Three Gorges Project of Xinjiang Starts Impounding

The Altash water control project, dubbed the "Three Gorges Project of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region", started impounding on Nov 19.

The power tunnel, dam and factories, contracted by Power Construction Corporation of China (POWERCHINA), were all completed and ready for storing water before the impounding began.

It is a major livelihood project and the largest water conservancy project under construction in Xinjiang. It will help solve more than four million people's trouble caused by flooding of the Yarkant River when completed.

One of the 172 major national water conservation and water supply projects and the 100 main undertakings during China's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), it will mainly be used for flood control, irrigation and power generation.

With a total investment of about 10.99 billion yuan ($1.56 billion), construction of the project started on Jun 10, 2015 with a scheduled construction period of 74 months.

The installed capacity of the project's power plant is 755 MW.

With total water storage of 2.25 billion cubic meters, the reservoir has a normal pool level of 1,820 meters.

The highest water retaining structure rises 164.8 meters with a 93-meter thick sand gravel foundation as its covering layer.

The Altash water control project, dubbed "Three Gorges Project of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region", started impounding on Nov 19. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)