Willis to Consult on China’s Three Gorges Dam Project

March 5, 2008

Willis Group Holdings announced that it has won a two-year contract as the insurance consultant for the operational assets of “the largest hydropower project in the world,” – China’s Three Gorges Project.

The selection of Willis as a consultant on the project, which is located in Sandouping, a region in Hubei Province, shows that it is “cementing its position as the pre-eminent power, utilities and construction broker in China,” said the bulletin. The dam’s hydroelectric generators are scheduled to be fully opertional by 2011.

Willis noted the following: “The Three Gorges hydroelectric power project spans the mighty Yangtze River and will generate enough electricity (84.7 billion Kwh/yr) to power a city four times the size of Los Angeles. The dam is the world’s largest concrete structure, containing 28 million tons of concrete and 32 million tons of rock and earth fill. It incorporates 32 700MW turbines and five-step ship locks that can lift 10,000 ton ocean-going vessels the 113m (371 ft.) necessary to pass upstream. This will allow ships to travel 600km [360 miles] inland to Chongqing, a region rich in manufactured and agricultural goods.

Chairman and CEO Joe Plumeri, who visited the dam site last summer, noted how proud Willis is to be “associated with one of the greatest engineering feats of the twenty-first century. He also noted that the Three Gorges project is designed to “generate inexpensive electricity and easy river access to the interior, opening the region up to more international investment.”

Source: Willis Group Holdings – www.willis.com

Topics China

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