China has approved the construction of possibly World’s largest Hydro-Power Dam. This is an ambitious project of China on the eastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau. It can affect millions downstream in India and Bangladesh.
India has raised concerns over the dam, as it not only empowers China to control the river’s water flow but also poses the risk of flooding border areas by releasing large volumes of water during potential hostilities due to its sheer size and scale.
Such a huge dam could hold back massive amount of silt carried by the river. (Silty soil is more fertile than other types of soil and it is good for growing crops.) This could affect farming in the areas downstream. The construction of dams upstream will have a significant effect on areas downstream.
The Brahmaputra (called Yarlung Tsangpo in China, also called Yarlung Zangbo) is one of the longest rivers in the world. Starting in the Himalayas in Tibet, it enters India in Arunachal Pradesh, then passes through Assam, Bangladesh, and empties into the Bay of Bengal. The Brahmaputra, a perennial river, is the lifeline for communities living along its banks. They use it for irrigation, fisheries and inland water transport.
And, in its lower course, the river is both an advantage and a disadvantage. On the one hand, it deposits huge quantities of fertile alluvial soil suitable for agriculture, but on the other, due to geographical and climatic conditions, it causes periodical, disastrous floods in Assam and Bangladesh.
Anyhow, China is to construct this largest dam in the southern Tibet region. The Chinese government has granted approval to the dam on Yarlung Tsangpo River. It is the longest in the region locally known as the ‘Xizang’ autonomous region.
The dam will be located in the lower reaches of the Zangbo River. According to an estimate provided by the Power Construction Corp of China, it can produce 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.
That would more than triple the 88.2 billion kWh designed capacity of the ‘Three Gorges Dam’, currently the world’s largest, in central China.
The project will play a major role in meeting China’s carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals; stimulate related industries such as engineering; and, create jobs in Tibet.
A section of the Yarlung Zangbo falls a dramatic 2,000 meters (6,561 feet) within a short span of 50 km (31 miles), offering huge hydropower potential as well as unique engineering challenges.
The outlay for building the dam, including engineering costs, is also expected to eclipse the Three Gorges dam, which cost 254.2 billion yuan ($34.83 billion). This included the resettling of the 1.4 million people it displaced and was more than four times the initial estimate of 57 billion yuan.
Authorities have not indicated how many people the Tibet project would displace and how it would affect the local ecosystem- one of the richest and most diverse on the plateau.
According to Chinese officials, hydropower projects in Tibet, which they say hold more than a third of China’s hydroelectric power potential, would not have a major impact on the environment or on downstream water supplies
India and Bangladesh have nevertheless raised concerns about the dam, with the project potentially altering not only the local ecology but also the flow and course of the river downstream.
China has already commenced hydropower generation on the upper reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo, which flows from the west to the east of Tibet. It is planning more projects upstream. Presently, Beijing is expected to spend over 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion) on the new dam, making it the largest single infrastructure project in the world by far.
As per an opinion, a hostile neighborhood will be India’s biggest challenge in 2025. The going year-2024 should serve as a forewarning for India when it comes to the immediate neighborhood and beyond.
The real test of PM Modi and his team’s ‘Neighborhood First’ policy is likely to play out in 2025. It is after all a year of tumult triggered by the so-called “second liberation movement” in Bangladesh. The campaign across the border saw bilateral ties take a major hit.
Educationist/Administrator/Editor/Author/Speaker
Commencing teaching in his early twenties, Prof Aggarwal has diverse experience of great tenure in the top institutions not only as an educationist, administrator, editor, author but also promoting youth and its achievements through the nicest possible content framing. A revolutionary to the core, he is also keen to address the society around him for its betterment and growth on positive notes while imbibing the true team spirit the work force along with.
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