(i) Why did the Government create a Resettlement Program?
Why are Resettlement programs important?
The dam would submerge a number of counties, districts, townships and villages.
According to official figures, the dam would submerge 13 cities, 140 towns and 1,350 villages. Therefore, in the total affected area, more than 1 million people (the number is disputed) needed to be relocated. As a result of this, the Government made the ‘Resettlement Program’ in order to try and compensate all the people in the vicinity of the dam, whose counties, districts, townships and villages would be submerged. This is one of the biggest resettlement programs in history. Overall, since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the construction of more than 80,000 reservoirs has created more than 10 million displaced persons. Thus, resettlement programs and issues are very important due to the large number of people they impact. |
(ii) Why did the government decide to make changes to the previous Resettlement Program?
In the past, for many reasons, including poor economic conditions & urgent demands for flood control and electricity, the government emphasized project construction over resettlement.
Up until the 1980’s the government applied a resettlement policy that was essentially a one-time compensation; resettlers were paid once and then asked to move quickly. Assistance in resettlement wasn’t provided nor the long-term development of the resettlement area was considered. The 1980’s policy didn’t set proper compensation standards, and it was also soon found that resettlers lacked sufficient funds to build new houses, reclaim wastelands and reconstruct basic facilities.
As a result, the livelihoods of the resettlers in projects such as the Danjiangkou reservoir decreased.
According to previous rough data, more than one third of resettlement projects failed to maintain or improve the resettlers’ standard of living. This resulted in serious, social economic and environmental problems.
Thus, mindful of the previous resettlement setbacks, the Chinese government addressed the TGD resettlement by adopting a different resettlement policy.
Up until the 1980’s the government applied a resettlement policy that was essentially a one-time compensation; resettlers were paid once and then asked to move quickly. Assistance in resettlement wasn’t provided nor the long-term development of the resettlement area was considered. The 1980’s policy didn’t set proper compensation standards, and it was also soon found that resettlers lacked sufficient funds to build new houses, reclaim wastelands and reconstruct basic facilities.
As a result, the livelihoods of the resettlers in projects such as the Danjiangkou reservoir decreased.
According to previous rough data, more than one third of resettlement projects failed to maintain or improve the resettlers’ standard of living. This resulted in serious, social economic and environmental problems.
Thus, mindful of the previous resettlement setbacks, the Chinese government addressed the TGD resettlement by adopting a different resettlement policy.
(iii) How was the Resettlement Program for the TGD different from the previous Resettlement Program?
The new resettlement program that the Chinese Government adopted for the TGD in May 1993 was a ‘development type resettlement’ plan. The government allocated $10 billion for resettlement. This program did include the previous compensation policy, however this time it was further developed into the ‘Lump Sum Method’, which would give people different compensations depending on the net worth of their home and land, rather than giving everyone the same compensation.
Furthermore, the new program aimed to improve the living standard and the long-term conditions, by creating necessary conditions for developing the overall broad social and economic infrastructure in the area of the dam.
Ways to do this included opening new agricultural land, establishing new business and job opportunities in the area, sharing profits received by the Dam's electricity generation for Resettlement etc.
Furthermore, the new program aimed to improve the living standard and the long-term conditions, by creating necessary conditions for developing the overall broad social and economic infrastructure in the area of the dam.
Ways to do this included opening new agricultural land, establishing new business and job opportunities in the area, sharing profits received by the Dam's electricity generation for Resettlement etc.
As we can see the displacement caused by the dam is a huge significant issue due to the number of people affected by its construction and thus the resettlement program is of great significance. We can also see that in previous instances of dams and reservoirs, the Government has made several errors and has been extremely unsuccessful in terms of policies and programs, as in the past the government was less concerned about resettlement and the affects of the dam on local people, as they were more concerned on the Economic aspect of the dam. However, as we can see, the government has acknowledged this and has tried to adopt an improved new program with regard to the TGD, which develops the faults of the previous program and has an aim for the betterment of the people. This new program seems to be more detailed, in-depth and looks at a wider range of aspects than the previous program.