Yangtze Electric's profits double

Yangtze Electric Power, the operator of China's Three Gorges Dam, has said its profits more than doubled in 2004.

The firm has benefited from increased demand for electricity at a time when power shortages have hit cities and provinces across the country. As a hydroelectric-power generator it has not been hurt by higher coal costs. Net income jumped to 3bn yuan in 2004 ($365m; £190m), compared with 1.4bn yuan in 2003. Sales surged to 6.2bn yuan, from 3bn yuan a year earlier. The figures topped analysts expectations, even though the rate of growth has slowed from 2003. Analysts forecast that it is likely to decline further this year to a rate of expansion of closer to 20%.

Yangtze Electric has been expanding its output to meet demand driven by China's booming economy. The government has delayed the building of a number of power plants in an effort to rein in growth amid concerns that the economy may overheat. That has led to an energy crunch, with demand outstripping supply. Earlier this month, work was halted on an underground power station, and a supply unit on the Three Gorges Dam, as well as a power station on its sister Xiluodu dam because of environmental worries. A total of 30 large-scale projects have been halted across the country for similar reasons. The Three Gorges Dam project has led to more than half a million people being relocated and drawn criticism from environmental groups and overseas human rights activists. Its sister project, the Xiluodu Dam, is being built on the Jinshajiang - or "river of golden sand" as the upper reaches of the Yangtze are known.