China has approved the construction of world’s largest dam on Brahmaputra river in Tibet near Indian border.This hydroelectric dam will be built across a vast valley of the Himalayas where the Brahmaputra river takes a huge U-turn and flows into India’s Arunachal Pradesh.Total investment in the dam could exceed one trillion yuan ($137 billion), which is four times the cost of the current largest Three Gorges Dam ($31.765 billion).It is estimated that this dam will generate 300 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually, which is three times more than the ‘Three Gorges Dam’, which was designed to generate 88.2 billion kWh.The Three Gorges Dam (gravity dam) is located on the Yangtze River (the world’s third longest (6300 km) river) in China’s Hubei province.China’s The Brahmaputra dam was included in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) and the long-term development goals for 2035 approved by the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2020. It could generate revenue of 20 billion yuan ($3 billion) annually for the Tibet Autonomous Region. According to Chinese experts, the downstream area around the dam has a vertical drop of 2,000 metres over a distance of 50 km representing about 70 million kW of resources that could be tapped. India is also planning to build the country’s second largest dam on the Brahmaputra river at Yingkiong in Arunachal Pradesh with a capacity to store about 10 billion cubic metres (BCM) of water.
India’s concerns about the dam
- Being an upstream contiguous state, China’s control over the dam could affect the amount of water available downstream, raising concerns for India.
- India has raised concerns that the project could alter not only the local ecology but also the course of the river.
- The dam will allow China to control water flow and potentially release large amounts of water to flood border areas during hostilities.
- The project could escalate geopolitical tensions between India and China and lead to a “water war” between the two countries.
Brahmaputra River
- The river (2900 km) originates in the Kailash range of the Himalayas at an altitude of 5300 m.
- It takes a U-turn at Namcha Barwa, a 7,757 m high peak in the Tibetan Himalayas.
- Known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in southern Tibet, the river flows through Himalayan valleys and enters Arunachal Pradesh where it is called the Dihang.
- West of Sadiya, the Dihang river turns southwest and joins the Lohit and Dibang rivers.
- After their confluence, the river is named Brahmaputra.
- It passes through Bangladesh as Jamuna, eventually merging with the Ganges to form the vast Sundarbans delta.