The dam is forcing the resettlement of more than 1.2 million people living along the Yangtze river. It will submerge more than 320 villages and 140 towns, together with some of the most precious artifacts and archaeological sites of China's long civilisation. However, proponents of the dam project claim that the facts in favour of the dam are compelling. They say that when completed in 2009, the Three Gorges Dam will generate 18,000 megawatts of electricity and help meet the country's growing energy demand. They add that it will control flooding along the lower Yangtze, which have killed an estimated 300,000 people this century, and drive the development of China's impoverished, backward hinterland.
Critics remain unconvinced.
For them, one of the most pressing questions is whether the Chinese government is organised or competent enough to simultaneously undertake the relocation of up to two million people. The study quotes a Chinese official involved in the dam resettlement effort as saying in his report that ''the Chinese authorities will have to rely on the military or a man-made flood to force the people out of their homes''. The report was carried out by Chinese sociologist Wu Ming in January this year, and covered five of the 22 countries to be partly inundated by the reservoir. It sees a resettlement disaster if the first stage of inundation of the reservoir behind the dam on the Yangtze river goes ahead. The report talks about widespread falsification of resettlement figures, embezzlement of relocation funds by local officials and ''widespread resentment and food-dragging opposition to resettlement''.