Solution to dam problems

Up until Wednesday, our ears had been filled with assurances that a dam at the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River would deliver benefits without doing any harm.

So the State Council's acknowledgement of "problems that demand prompt solutions" on Wednesday came more or less as a surprise.

As Premier Wen Jiabao enumerated at the State Council meeting, there have been some problems with the dam - including the resettlement of 1.3 million people, ecological and environmental damage, geological disasters, irrigation and water supply, as well as water transport on the middle and lower reaches.