China Approves Construction of World’s Largest Dam near Indian Border
NEW DELHI, Dec 26: Causing concern to the two riparian nations India and Bangladesh, China has cleared the construction of the world’s largest dam and perhaps the planet’s biggest infra project costing $137 billion, on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet close to the Indian border.
“The Chinese government has approved the construction of a hydropower project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, the Tibetan name for the Brahmaputra,” an official statement by the Chinese government said on Thursday.
The dam is to be built at a huge gorge in the Himalayan reaches where the Brahmaputra river makes a huge U-turn to flow into Arunachal Pradesh and then to Bangladesh. The total investment in the dam could exceed one trillion yuan ($137 billion), which would dwarf any other single infrastructure project on the planet including China’s own Three Gorges Dam, regarded as the largest in the world.
China has already operationalised the $1.5 billion Zam Hydropower Station, the largest in Tibet in 2015. The Brahmaputra dam was part of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) and National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 adopted by Plenum, a key policy body of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2020.
Concerns arose in India as the dam besides empowering China to control the water flow, the size and scale of it could also enable Beijing to release large amounts of water flooding border areas in times of hostilities. India too is building a dam over Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh.
India and China established the Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) in 2006 to discuss various issues related to trans-border rivers under which China provides India with hydrological information on the Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers during the flood seasons.
The Brahmaputra Dam presents enormous engineering challenges as the project site is located along a tectonic plate boundary where earthquakes occur. The Tibetan plateau, regarded as the roof of the world, frequently experiences earthquakes as it is located over the tectonic plates.
The official statement sought to allay concerns about earthquakes, saying that the hydropower project was safe and prioritises ecological protection. Through extensive geological explorations and technical advancements, a solid foundation has been laid for the science-based, secure, and high-quality development of the project, it said.
The Brahmaputra flows across the Tibetan Plateau, carving out the deepest canyon on Earth and covering a staggering vertical difference of 25,154 feet before reaching India. The dam will be built in one of the rainiest parts of mainland China bringing bountiful flows of water.
According to a 2023 report, the hydropower station is expected to generate more than 300 billion kWh of electricity each year — enough to meet the annual needs of over 300 million people. The hydropower project is a green project aimed at promoting low-carbon development. By harnessing the abundant hydropower resources of the Yarlung Zangbo River, the project will also spur the development of solar and wind energy resources in surrounding areas, thus creating a clean energy base featuring a complementary mix of hydro, wind and solar power, it said.
It will directly stimulate the rapid growth of such industries as engineering, logistics and trade services, and create new jobs, it said. Once completed, the project will further improve infrastructures of electricity, water conservancy and transportation. It will strengthen the synergy of development between Tibet and other regions, it said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
