Authorities in Guangdong Province have signed deals worth almost 3.5 billion yuan ($514 million) to create jobs in the Three Gorges Dam area, an official said yesterday.

The aim is to create about 26,400 jobs in the textiles, electronics, lighting equipment, materials processing and tourism industries for people forced to relocate due to the dam's construction.

The deals follow a work conference between the Guangdong government and representatives of the Three Gorges Dam regions last week.

Wang Xiaofeng, deputy director of the Committee of the Construction of the Three Gorges Project and the Three Gorges Project Office under the State Council, praised Guangdong's support for the affected regions since it was told to provide aid 17 years ago.

Yang Shaosen, deputy secretary-general of the Guangdong government, said that as of the end of last year the province had given about 5 billion yuan in support to the Three Gorges Dam regions.

About 338 million yuan will go to fund the relocation of people from Wushan county, Chongqing Municipality and infrastructure construction, Yang said.

Launched in 1993, the hydroelectric project is situated on the Yangtze River near Yichang in Hubei Province. It was designed to fuel economic development with clean and cheap energy.

As of April 7 it had generated 300 billion kilowatt hours of electricity since its first generator was put into operation in July 2003. The amount is equivalent to 8.8 percent of the national consumption last year.

The project has been criticized, however, for causing the relocation of 1.2 million people.

(Xinhua)