Chinese workers Nov. 6 successfully completed the diversion of the Yangtze River at Sandouping, a construction milestone that signals the beginning of the $27-billion Three Gorges Dam project's third and final phase. The diversion plugged a 3-kilometer-long channel on the Yangtze's right bank that had allowed ships to pass the dam's spillway and left intake structure. When complete, the 2,309-meter-long, 185-m-high concrete gravity dam will impound a deep, narrow reservoir that will stretch upriver to Chonqing. The first 700-Mw turbine in the left-bank powerhouse was also installed during the first week of November. Four of complex's 26 turbines are scheduled to begin producing power next year. Water is now being channeled through the dam's sluice gates. Workers will now begin cofferdam construction to allow concrete placement for the right bank intake structure. The project is on schedule to be completed in 2009.