The exact time for the IPO will be decided in accordance with the market situation, said Li Yong'an, general manager of China Yangtze Electric Power Corporation.

"The CYRTGPDC hopes to share the benefits of the Three Gorges Project with more investors. The shareholding company will therefore turn to the international finance market in the future, and Hong Kong comes up first as a fund-raising option," said Li, who is also deputy general manager of CYRTGPDC.

China Yangtze Electric Power Corporation, set up last month, is jointly operated by the CYRTGPDC, the Huaneng International Power Development Corporation, the China National Nuclear Corporation, the China National Petroleum Corporation, the Gezhouba Dam Group Company and the Institute for Survey, Planning and Design of the Yangtze River Water Resources Committee.

The CYRTGPDC, as the initiator of the young company, buys shares using part of the assets of the Gezhouba Power Plant and will have a controlling interest in the new company.

Situated 40 km from Yichang city in central China's Hubei province, the project will consist of a dam 2,309 meters in length and 185 meters high with 26 generating units boasting a combined capacity of 18.2 million kilowatts.

Upon completion in 2009, the gigantic hydroelectric project will be able to generate 84.7 billion kilowatts of electric power annually. Its permanent locks will allow the passage of ships of more than 10,000 DWT (dead weight tonnage).

The project, initiated in 1993, will cost an estimated 180 billion yuan (about US$21.69 billion). The CYRTGPDC has thus far raised 14 billion yuan (some US$1.69 billion) through the issuance of corporate bonds.

(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2002)