China starts building the Brahmaputra dam in Tibet, which will cost $167.8 billion. How does it affect India?
A USD 167.8 billion dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, close to the Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh, has officially started construction by China.
According to official accounts, Chinese Premier Li Qiang announced at a groundbreaking ceremony at the Yarlung Zangbo, the river’s lower reaches in Nyingchi City.
According to the state-run Xinhua news agency, the event was held at the location of the Mainling hydropower station in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Key things to know about the project:
A huge hydropower dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, near the Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh, is reportedly the greatest infrastructure project in the world, and China has officially started building it.
Five cascade hydropower stations will be part of the ambitious project, which is expected to cost 1.2 trillion yuan (about USD 167.8 billion), according to official Chinese media.
The stations are anticipated to produce more than 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year once they are finished, which is apparently enough to power over 300 million people. This makes it the largest project of its kind worldwide, even surpassing China’s Three Gorges Dam.
The Brahmaputra River, sometimes called Yarlung Zangbo locally, performs a sharp U-turn before entering Arunachal Pradesh and ultimately Bangladesh, and the dam will be constructed in a huge gorge in the Himalayas.
What does it mean to India?
India and Bangladesh, both of which mostly depend on the Brahmaputra’s unbroken flow for agriculture, drinking water, and ecosystem stability, have responded strongly to the project’s location and scope. Concerns include possible ecological harm, obstruction of nutrient-rich sediment, disturbances in water flow, and the potential for China to exploit river control as a strategic tool.
India was concerned because, in addition to giving China control over water flow, the dam’s size and scope may allow Beijing to dump massive volumes of water, flooding border regions during times of conflict.
In Arunachal Pradesh, India is also constructing a dam to control the Brahmaputra.
In order to address a number of transboundary river-related concerns, China and India formed the Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) in 2006. As part of this mechanism, China gives India hydrological data on the Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers during flood seasons.
The discussions between China’s Special Representatives (SRs) for the border issue, NSA Ajit Doval, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and India on December 18 of last year included data sharing about trans-border rivers.
Because the Brahmaputra Dam project site is situated near a tectonic plate border where earthquakes frequently occur, it poses significant engineering challenges. Being situated above the tectonic plates, the Tibetan plateau—often referred to as the world’s roof—frequently experiences earthquakes.
However, an official statement released in December of last year attempted to mitigate earthquake worries by stating that the hydropower project is safe and places a high priority on ecological conservation.
A strong basis for the project’s science-based, safe, and excellent development has been established by means of in-depth geological investigations and technological developments. The Brahmaputra is supposed to have carved out the world’s deepest canyon as it sweeps across the Tibetan Plateau. In one of the wettest areas, the dam will be constructed.