According to " The Comprehensive Utilization Planning of the Yangtze Basin" approved by the State Council, the Three Gorges Project is the key backbone project for rehabilitation and development of the Yangtze River. The main tasks of TGP are: regulating the floods from the upstream reaches in Sichuan Province to control the floods or relief the flood damage in middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze, especially in the Jinjiang reaches; developing the hydro-power resources in the Three Gorges reach to provide the central China, east China and the east Sichuan Province (now the city of Chongqing, the same as below) with huge amount of the electricity; improving the navigation condition of the reaches between Chongqing and Yichang.

FLOOD CONTROL

The plain areas along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze boast highly developed industry and agriculture. Nevertheless these areas are most vulnerable to floods and waterlogging, because the flood level can be 6-17 meters higher than the ground level of the adjacent plains and they are protected only by the 33,000- kilometer- long dykes . Flooding has been very frequent since ancient times and the reoccurence interval is about 10 years. This is easy to understand because the flood-discharging capacity of the river channel from Jingjiang to Wuhan,which is only 60,000-70,000 m/s,is far too small to discharge the large floods as high as 110,000 m/s. The Three Gorges Dam(TGD)can protect the downstream plain against the biggest flood in 100 years and prevent devastating disasters from occurring in case of the biggest flood in 1000 years,with the help of the flood diversion structure.To avoid heavy losses caused by a possible war, we can prelower the water level, because modern wars always have signs. History will prove the project is the "Patron Saint" ensuring the safety of lives and properties of more than 15 million people inhabiting the downstream areas and 1.53 million ha. farmland as well as the Beijing -Guangzhou and Beijing-Jiulong railroads.

POWER GENERATION

After completion,the Yangtze River water will be used to produce electricity first at Three Gorges Power Station(TGPS) then regulated by the Gezhouba Project for the purpose of navigation and finally reused for power generation at the Gezhouba Power Station. Thus the total annual output of the two stations is expected to reach 195 billion kwh .When completed,the power output will generate a yearly net value of 10 .5 billion yuan($ 1. 2billion) on the assumption that the price of electricity is 0.1 yuan ($0.0114)per kwh, and an output value of 525 billion yuan($60.3billion)on the assumption that 1 kwh of electricity can produce an output value of 5 yuan ($0.57),which can result in job opportunities for nearly 5.25 million people assuming that a yearly value of 10,000 yuan($1,149)can be created per person.It should also be noted that the Project enjoys a very advantageous geographical position ,being within 1,000 km of many industrial centers.it is expected to be the network junction for graphical position,being within 1, 000 km of many industrial centers.It is expected to be the network junction for all the power grids in the country.When the grid goes into operation, it will not only supplement the available thermal power, hydro-power and nuclear power in the country, but also upgrade the quality and efficiency of the grid, which will certainly make the Project the national nerve centre-the electricity dispatching centre.