Announcement of mega dam launch by China has India worried: report

BEIJING: Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Saturday announced the launch of a mega dam project on the Tibetan Plateau, in what is expected to be the world’s largest hydroelectric facility.

The massive project, located in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River, has raised concerns about water supply and environmental impact downstream in India and Bangladesh.Li attended the dam’s groundbreaking ceremony in Nyingchi, a southeastern city in the Tibet autonomous region, state news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday.

The Yarlung Tsangpo becomes the Brahmaputra River as it leaves Tibet and flows south into India’s Arunachal Pradesh and Assam states, and finally into Bangladesh.

Beijing first announced plans for the dam in 2020 under its five-year plan, as part of a broader strategy to exploit the hydropower potential of the Tibetan Plateau. The plan was approved last December.

The project is said to be the largest of its kind in the world, with an estimated annual capacity of 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity – three times that of the Three Gorges Dam.However, it has raised concerns in India and Bangladesh about the impact on their water and food security. There are also worries about population displacement and major environmental disruption, as well as potential weaponisation of water by China, which could use the dam to cause floods or induce droughts.

China asserts that the project has undergone rigorous scientific evaluation and will not adversely affect the ecological environment, geological stability, or water resource rights of downstream countries. Beijing has also emphasized that it will not try to benefit at the “expense of its neighbours”.Rather, the project could help in disaster prevention and mitigation efforts, and support climate change adaptation in downstream regions, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

The dam has reportedly prompted India to speed up its own hydropower projects on the Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh to assert water resource rights.

India maintains that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of its territory, while China claims it as part of southern Tibet and has objected to other Indian infrastructure projects there.

The mega project in Tibet will have five cascade hydropower stations, with a total investment estimated at around 1.2 trillion yuan (US$167 billion), the Xinhua report said. It said the project would primarily deliver power for external consumption while also addressing local demand in Tibet. Another Xinhua report on Saturday said a new state-owned enterprise, China Yajiang Group, had been established to serve as the project owner.

It was a key measure to ensure the “smooth construction and operation” of the project, emphasising technological innovation and ecological protection, Vice-Premier Zhang Guoqing was quoted as saying at the firm’s recent inauguration ceremony.