In the wake of controversy over the impact of the Three Gorges Dam, China has pledged to take more measures to protect the environment in the area.

The new measures, announced by the office of the Three Gorges Project Committee of the State Council yesterday, consist of seven projects designed to address possible environmental problems and an environmental monitoring system to do the assessment.

"It is still a long way to go if we speak of the environmental protection issues of the project," said the office.

The Three Gorges Dam, located on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the country's longest, was launched in 1993 with a budget of 180 billion yuan (US$22.5 billion) in an effort to generate power and to tame periodic devastating floods on the Yangtze.

The total project comprises a 185-meter-high dam, completed in early 2006, a five-tier ship lock and the 660-km-long reservoir.

However, the gigantic dam project has caused concerns over its damage to the environment as it heads toward completion before 2009.

Chinese officials and experts admitted at a forum in Wuhan that the project has caused an array of ecological ills, including more frequent landslides and pollution. They warned if preventive measures are not taken, there could be an environmental "catastrophe."

The project office said it will strengthen the protection of the country's water sources and draft plans to guarantee water supply for relocated people. It will also enhance plans for the sustainable use of the dam and plans to improve the environment of submerged areas.

The office pledged to make more efforts to prevent cities, towns, villages and enterprises neighboring the dam from dumping pollutants, to improve the protection of the biological diversity of the area, and to establish a reporting and emergency response mechanism in case of water pollution accidents.

"We want to build a first-class hydropower facility out of the project but we also want a good environment," the office said.

Tan Qiwei, vice mayor of Chongqing, a sprawling metropolis next to the reservoir, said the shore of the reservoir had collapsed in 91 places and a total of 36 kilometers had caved in.

Frequent geological disasters have threatened the lives of residents around the reservoir area, said Huang Xuebin, head of the Headquarters for Prevention and Control of Geological Disasters in the Three Gorges Reservoir.