The Three Gorges Project, whose mammoth dam was completed on Saturday, plays a key role in the flood control system of the Yangtze River, experts said here.

The project is capable of holing back major floods on the longest river in China because of its location, size and landform, said Zheng Shouren, member of the Academy of Engineering of China.

The project is located at the site where the Yangtze River's upper and middle reaches meet.

As a key facility to hold back flooded water, the Three Gorges Reservoir is capable of holding 22.15 billion cubic meters of water when it attains a normal water level of 175 meters.

Built with 16.1 million cubic meters of concrete, the Three Gorges Dam is considered the largest reinforced concrete dam in the world.

The basic function of the Three Gorges Project is flood control, said noted hydrological expert Wang Jun, who is also vice director of the Yangtze River Hydrological Bureau.

The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River have suffered from floods because the floods that went into being on the upper reaches could not be discharged on the middle and lower reaches in time, Wang said.

The maximum rate of flow during flood seasons on the river is 110,000 cubic meters per second, while the river's middle part from Jingzhou to Wuhan, two cities in central China's Hubei Province, can only discharge between 60,000 and 70,000 cubic meters per second.

China completed construction of the world's largest dam Saturday in Three Gorges area, Hubei Province, signifying accomplishment of the major structure of the mammoth Three Gorges water control project aiming to tame the flood-prone Yangtze River.

At about 2:00 on Saturday afternoon, the final concrete was poured for the 2,309-meter-long, 185-meter-high main wall of the Three Gorges Dam, which by then began to have capacity of holding water.

The concrete placement of the Dam's main section was completed 10 months ahead of the schedule, which will enable the Dam to start its role in power generation, flood control and shipping improvement in 2008, one year ahead the designated time.

Source: Xinhua