Resettlement of Residents in the Mamlha Reservoir Area

BENBA CERING

MAMLHA RESERVOIR

A dam measuring 75.3 meters high and 287 meters long was built in Mamlha to stem the Nyang Qu River, which originates in Gangwasangbu Mountain. This will help create the Mamlha Reservoir. Located in the Lungma River Valley, on the upper reaches of the Nyang Qu River, a tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo River, the reservoir is 28 km east of the Gyangze County seat. It is one of the 62 projects built with investment from Central Government departments and fraternal provinces and municipalities directly under the Central Government. The reservoir is designed to have an installed generating capacity of 20,000 kW, generating 6,100 kWh a year. It is also expected to irrigate 77,000 hectares of farmland, which will help increase grain production by 70 million kg.

Although construction of the Mamlha Reservoir is good for Tibetans as a whole, resettlement of local people wont be easy. A total of 17 administrative villages in Lungma Township will be submerged. More than 740 people will be moved from Lungma Gully to the Paguitang Development Area. The Paguitang Development Area is some 40 km away from Lungma. Located in a large valley to the south of the upper reaches of the Nyang Qu River, the area has 406 hectares of farmland. The new village is 3.2 km from the county seat, and 3.5 km from the Lhasa-Yadong Highway. As the Lungma River Valley has only 93 hectares of fertile land and 1.3 hectares of forests, those due for resettlement were unhappy at the prospect of having to reclaim wasteland. In particular, people aged over 40 refused to leave the land where their ancestors had multiplied for many generations. Prior to construction of the reservoir, a group visited every household to explain why they had to move. Efforts were made to build roads, lay power lines, and set up tap water facilities in the new village. A two-stage water pumping station was set up for the reclamation of wasteland. People in the Lungma Gully began to move to Paguitang in the summer of 1997. By the end of July 1999, some 80 households with 570 members, had moved. Thus far, they have built up 100 hectares of farmland, 53 hectares of grasslands, and planted 40 hectares of grasses and 80,000 trees. In 1998, qingke barley production reached 2,250 kg per hectare. And the residents of the new village planted poplar and willow trees in large tracts. Waterworks were built in the new village, which, covering an area of 10.6 hectares, is now complete with a school, a clinic and some factories. By July 1999, the village had built more than 100 two-story buildings with French windows. Compared with dilapidated housing in Lungma, these are spacious and bright. Five households had installed telephones for which they had craved while in Lungma but had been unable to get. In 1999, the third straight bumper harvest was recorded in Paguitang, with the per-hectare yield hitting 3,600 kg. Income from farming, livestock breeding, forestry and sideline occupations totaled 1.25 million Yuan, averaging 1,800 Yuan per capita. Seeing the new situation, a dozen households who have not moved to Paguitang are now ready to do so.