Earthwork entered peak time for construction of a new underground power workshop in the world's largest hydropower station at the Three Gorges, Yichang City of central China's Hubei Province.

Over 1,000 workers spared the week-long vacation of China's Lunar New Year drilling and excavating a cellar in the mountain on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, which is expected to accommodate six generators, each with an installed capacity of 700,000 kw.

The China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation started the construction project in March, 2005. The drilling work is expected to be completed in July this year, and the concrete molding to begin in August, according to schedule.

The underground power workshop with the Three Gorges Project will cost more than 6 billion yuan (some 720 million U.S. dollars). When the project becomes operational by 2010, 90 percent of the water in the Three Gorges Reservoir will be used for generating hydro-electricity.

Launched in 1993, the Three Gorges Project is being built in three phases on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Based on an original plan, the gigantic reservoir, with an estimated cost of 180 billion yuan (approximately 21.7 billion U.S. dollars), will have 26 generators with a combined generating capacity of 18.2 million kw. The project will be able to generate 84.7 billion kW/hours of electric power annually when it is fully finished in 2009.

But, a revised plan also calls for inclusion of a new underground power plant with six new 700,000-kw generators. So far,14 of the generators have already been installed on the northern bank of the Yangtze River. The remaining 18 generating units of the Three Gorges Project, also one of the major water control works to tame the mighty Yangtze, will all be erected on the river's southern bank.