China has recently given an okay for construction of the largest dam across the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, near the border with India. Drawing $137 billion, this project is viewed as suspicious by India and Bangladesh due to the risk of regulating the water flow, creating instability in the area, and possible floods. Modern geological surveys guarantee protection in the event of any earthquake.
The dam is to be built at a huge gorge in the Himalayan reaches. (Photo: PTI/file)
The largest hydro power dam has been endorsed by the Chinese government on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet on the India border.
Feared to be costing $137 billion, the mega infrastructure project has pitched downstream countries such as India and Bangladesh into a loss of sleep to worry about water flow and regional stability.
State-operated Xinhua news on Wednesday reported that the Chinese government has approved the construction of a hydropower project on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River which is the Tibetan name for the Brahmaputra.
The total for infrastructure development could reach one trillion yuan or $137 billion – more than any other infrastructure project anywhere in the world, including China’s Three Gorges Dam that will cost $ 20 billion now, according to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.
“The construction of the facility known as the Brahmaputra dam was included in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) and National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035, which was endorsed by the Plenum in 2020 as a policy of the CPC”.
The proposed mega dam is part of China's 14th 5-year plan and will have 3 times the capacity of the Three Gorges Dam (seen in the pic above). (Photo: Reuters)
Where will be the dam built
The said dam is to be built on a giant gorge in the Himalayan where the river Brahmaputra changes its course from southward to eastward at the entry into Arunachal Pradesh and further into Bangladesh.
What is the consequence of the Brahmaputra Dam in India
India has raised concerns over the dam, as the same also enables China to regulate the water of the river along with it has ability to flood the border areas by releasing number of waters during potential hostilities due to its huge size and capacity.
India is also building its own dam on the Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh as well. India and China signed the Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) in January 2006 to deal with various trans-border river issues and through this mechanism China shares hydrological information of Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers during the flood periods.
Read About Expert Level Mechanism (ELM)
Talks on data sharing with reference to trans-border rivers was held between Indian NSA, Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign Minister Wang Yi during the Special representatives meeting on 18 December.
The ministry of external affairs confirmed that the SRs contained ‘positive directions for cross border cooperation exchange rates and cross border flows including information on trans-border rivers.
Some apprehensions emerged in India: the dam, apart from endowing China with the possibility to manage the water flow, also allows Beijing to flood border territories with massive volumes of water in case of conflicts.
Production of constructions comes with a lot of challenges
The construction of Brahmaputra Dam encounter significant engineering challenges because the site situates on tectonic plate margin where earthquake is very common. Tibet is a plateau situated on different tectonic plates; these circumstances mean that area experiences several earthquakes.
The river of Brahmaputra originates from the Tibetan plateau where it cuts across the world’s deepest canyon with a vertical drop of 2,515m before it enters India, the Post report showed.
The construction of the dam is to be carried out in the mainland of China; the area receives the most rainfall with enough water flow.
‘Yarlung Tsangpo river especially Deposited with abundant amount of hydropower potential.
Earlier on Wednesday, there was a statement from the government regarding the fear of an earthquake which confirmed that the hydropower project is safe, and the necessary measures had been taken to protect the environment.
The statement to this pointed out that many geophysical surveys and advanced technologies have laid a scientific, safe, and high-quality basis for the project.
As mentioned at the beginning of 2020 by Yan Zhiyong, the former chairman of Power Construction Corporation of China, this location of Yarlung Tsangpo is incredibly abundant in hydropower resources.
“It falls by 2,000 metres in 50km and contains nearly 70 million kilowatts of resources yet to be exploited – then are three Gorges Dams with installed capacity of 22.5 million kilowatts,” the Post pointed out.
It envisages that hydropower will generate electricity for 300 million population of the country
An outlook report of 2023 shows the hydropower station revealed that it will be producing over 300 billion kWh annually – enough to power over 300 million people in a year.
For harnessing hydropower in the river, construction of four to six tunnels about 20 kilometres each is planned to be made through Namcha Barwa mountain to divert about 2000 cubic meters per second water of the river, according to report.
Yan pointed out that the hydro-electric project on the lower section of the Yarlung Zangbo River is not merely an energy construction. For that it encompasses many broad domain themes, including conservation of the environment, security, quality of life, energy requirements, and facilitating global cooperation.
“It is a project for national security, such as water resources and internal security,” he said Adding that the project would also lead to enhanced coordination with South Asian countries. He pointed out that the hydropower station could bring 20 billion yuan, that is three billion US dollars annual revenue for the Tibet Autonomous Region.
With inputs from agencies
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Manish Kumar had pursued a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from Amity University, Haryana. He is an enthusiastic and dedicated writer, who has worked with several ministries of the Government of India and contributed his voice to major campaigns and programmes. Being devoted to practicing significant journalism, Manish does his best to become a voice of change in society. Not only does he tell but also persuades, which is indicative of his strong conviction in the perspective of media.
