The dam would be finished on that date though several of the giant generators would still need to be installed, Xinhua news agency said, citing the China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation.

"There are less than 3,000 cubic meters (105,000 cubic feet) of concrete left to be placed before the dam is finally completed," said Cao Guangjing, the corporation's deputy general manager.

The generators were expected to be installed by the end of 2008 when the dam's full power production was due to come on line, the report said.

The project, launched in 1993 in the middle reaches of China's longest river, the Yangtze, will have cost 180 billion yuan (22 billion dollars).

China's government says the dam, 2,309 meters (7,600 feet) long, will generate much needed power, prevent flooding and benefit shipping.

The scheme has been criticized for its huge cost and its unproven capacity to control floods.

Critics have also cited environmental problems, including silt accumulation and pollution controls in hundreds of cities and villages that have been created for people displaced to make way for the dam.

related report

Indian Supreme Court Gives Nod To Controversial Dam Project

New Delhi, (AFP) May 09 - India's Supreme Court gave the green light to continued construction of a controversial dam Monday but urged the prime minister to ensure people displaced are adequately compensated.

Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal threw out an appeal by groups opposed to the project to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam in western India and said it hoped activists opposed to it will now cooperate.

"The court expressed the hope that all the parties concerned will fully cooperate and not cause any obstruction in the work," a court lawyer said.

The Narmada Bachao Andolan forum wanted to stop work to raise the dam's height from 110 metres (363 feet) to 121.92 metres (402 feet), saying the effect would be to displace thousands more people. It also said that many of those already made homeless had not resettled or found jobs.

The forum had argued that an earlier court decision ruled any new construction must be accompanied by efforts to assist the displaced.

But government lawyer Gopal Subramanian told the court a three-member panel set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to make plans to assist displaced villagers in one of the states, Madhya Pradesh, would submit its report next month to hasten rehabilitation.

"Once the report of the group is available the prime minister will be in a better position to take a decision in the matter," he said.

The chief justice urged Singh move quickly on ways to quicken the rehabilitation effort.

"We hope and expect the prime minister will be able to take a decision on or before July three and the decision taken shall be placed on record," Justice Sabharwal said.

Work began in March to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar, the biggest dam in the Narmada Valley development project, triggering protests led by forum leader Medha Patkar who launched an anti-dam fast on March 31 in New Delhi.

Advocates say that raising its height will provide much-needed water and electricity but the opponents say the step would displace even more people and submerge more farmland.

According to the UN, more than 24,000 families in 177 villages in Madhya Pradesh would be displaced if the height of the dam is increased as ordered Monday by the court.

States such as Gujarat and Maharashtra argue that raising its height will benefit 40 million farmers irrigate 200,000 hectares (490,000 acres) of barren land and produce nearly 1,500 megawatts of electricity every day.

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