Sources at the Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation said that installation of the generator, manufactured by Alstom of France and weighing 206 tons, would be done by the Gezhouba Group Company, China's largest hydroelectricity construction company.

　　The generator is one of the 14 generators designed to be installed on the left (northern) bank of the Yangtze. All 14 generators will be supplied by Alstom and GE of Canada.

　　Construction of the Three Gorges Project, located near this city in central China's Hubei Province, began in 1993, with an estimated investment of 50.09 billion yuan (about 6.04 billion U.S.dollars).

　　The project is scheduled to be finished in 2009.

　　The entire project consists of a 1,983-meter-long and 185-meter-high dam, and 26 generating units with a combined capacity of 18.2million kw and an annual output of 84.7 billion kwh. Its permanentlock can accommodate ships of 10,000 dwt.

　　It is expected that the first group of generators will be able to generate electricity by 2003, according to the sources.