The Aratax Hydropower Dam in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, known as the "Xinjiang Three Gorges," has solved the flooding problem for more than 2.4 million people. The construction of the project is considered a world-class challenge, CGTN reported.
Xinjiang's largest irrigation project is located on the Yarkand River, a beautiful river that has suffered catastrophic floods.
The Yarkand River, which originates in the Karakoram Range, has the highest flood frequency and bears the greatest flood control burden in Xinjiang.
Guo Rongfu, Party Secretary and General Manager of CNNC Xinhua Power Xinjiang Yehe, said that in the past, more than 90% of the rural workforce in the river basin participated in flood prevention efforts, with investment reaching billions of yuan.
Flood control is an urgent need, but it is not easy. The Aratax hydropower project cost about 11 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) and took more than 10 years to complete. Many have described the project as a world-class challenge.
The construction project encountered extremely difficult technical challenges known as "three peaks and one abyss" - including high seismic intensity, high slope, high dam and deep rock layer, said Mr. Guo Rongfu.
Mr. Guo recalled that in the early stages of construction, transportation mainly depended on walking and communication mainly relied on shouting. Fortunately, thanks to advances in advanced technologies such as cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence, the burden of management has shifted from humans to technology.
Three-dimensional accelerometers monitor the dam's deformation, settlement and displacement in real time during operation, allowing for continuous monitoring. "We aim to reduce personnel and operate unattended," said Mr. Guo.
Currently, flood control standards in the lower Yarkand River have been raised from 2.5 years to 50 years, reducing the need for human intervention in annual flood control efforts by about 10 million times.
Muhaimaiti Apizin, a resident of Yehe County, Xinjiang, said that after the project was launched, it brought many job opportunities, from bricklayers, electricians, cooks, drivers... and almost every household had someone working at the construction site. Muhaimaiti even borrowed money to buy an excavator for 600,000 yuan (2 billion VND) and paid off the debt within just three years of working there.
The Aratax Dam has come into operation, taming the once dangerous Yarkand River, opening a new path to prosperity for more than 2.4 million Chinese people.
