'Outstanding quality' accolade for hydroproject recently blamed by government for pollution and landslides
It may not yet match Henry Kissinger's Nobel Peace Prize as the most inappropriate award in history, but in terms of bad timing, it wins by a country mile.
The Three Gorges Corporation is to be given one of China's top accolades - the National Quality Investment Award - just weeks after its flagship dam's "urgent problems" were publicly acknowledged by China's cabinet, the state council.
When the presentation ceremony is held in the State Guesthouse on 25 June, the judges will have to be either thick-skinned or red-faced because they have given an "Outstanding Quality Award" to a hydropower plant that the government recently blamed for landslides, pollution, river traffic congestion, water supply deficiencies and the social disturbance caused by relocating more than a million people.
The selection criteria are supposed to include scale of investment and a good safety and environmental record.
The mismatch is partly explained by timing. The top National Quality Investment Award was chosen by early May, according to its website.
This was before prime minister Wen Jiabao signed off on the State Council's unusually candid assessment of the dam.
But it could also be seen as saying a great deal about the organiser, the Investment Association of China, which is made up of powerful industry groups and affiliated with the National Development and Reform Commission, which steers the economy.
Its award ceremony is not supposed to be a money making venture, but that is what is has become. The Three Gorges Corporation also contributes extra funds to sponsor the award.
The judges may well justify their decision by parrotting the government's declaration that the benefits of the Three Gorges Dam still outweigh the problems. They may also say the dam performs relatively well compared to the petrochemical and nuclear firms that will be awarded lesser prizes.
But it is hardly a ringing endorsement of the environmental standards of Chinese industry. On the contrary, the message seems to be: "Quality schmolity. If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em!"
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2011/jun/14/three-gorges-dam-quality-award
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