Beijing: The Three Gorges dam, the world'slargest hydroelectric project which is being built on the Yangtze river in China,will displace over 1.2 million people, "a senior official has said.

The deputy director of the Office with the Three Gorges Project ConstructionCommittee, Gao Jinbang acknowledged that the original plan called forrelocating only 1.13 million people.

One report had even suggested that the numbers could touch as high as 1.4million when the water level in the reservoir reaches 175 meters in 2008, oneyear earlier than scheduled. The current water level in the Three GorgesReservoir is 156 meters.

The dam is being built on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, China'slongest. Work on the project started in 1993.

But by the end of 2006, a total of 1.2 million people had moved out of thereservoir area of the dam, mainly in central China'sHubeiProvince. Gao cited natural populationgrowth and human migration as the reasons behind the increase in the totalnumber of people to be displaced.

According to Gao, 47,300 more residents in the reservoir area will bid farewellto their ancestral homes and settle down elsewhere this year, at a cost of aboutUS$ 688 million.

At an estimated cost of 180 billion yuan (about US$ 22.5 billion), the project,will eventually have 26 generators with a combined generating capacity of 18.2million kw and be able to generate 84.7 billion kwh of electricity annually.

A total of 76 billion yuan (US$ 9.7 billion) had been invested in the projectby the end of 2006.