China has initiated the construction of a massive dam on the Brahmaputra River (known as Yarlung Tsangpo in China) in Tibet, raising significant concerns in Indian media about its potential impact on millions of people in the low-lying areas of India and Bangladesh.Chinese Premier Li Qiang attended the inauguration ceremony of the dam’s construction in Nyingchi, southeast Tibet, on Saturday, according to China’s state-run news agency Xinhua. The project includes plans to build five hydroelectric power stations, which will meet Tibet’s local electricity demands and supply power to other regions. The total investment for the project is approximately 1.2 trillion yuan (USD 167.1 billion).
According to the China Global South Project, Beijing approved the project in December last year, aligning it with China’s carbon neutrality goals and Tibet’s economic development plans. Once completed, the dam could surpass the scale of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in central China.
India raised concerns about the project with China in January, with its Ministry of External Affairs urging China to refrain from upstream activities that could harm the interests of downstream countries along the Brahmaputra. However, China’s Foreign Ministry claimed in December that the project would have no “negative impact” on downstream nations and that China would maintain communication with India and Bangladesh.
Environmentalists have warned that such a mega-project in Tibet’s ecologically sensitive plateau could cause irreversible damage.
