Beijing: China has officially started building what is set to become the world’s largest hydroelectric dam on the Yarlung Zangbo River in southeastern Tibet, close to India’s border. Premier Li Qiang attended the groundbreaking ceremony in Nyingchi, near the Himalayan foothills. The project, with an estimated cost of 1.2 trillion yuan (around $167 billion), will include five linked hydropower stations and is expected to surpass the Three Gorges Dam in energy production.
The Yarlung Zangbo, known downstream as the Brahmaputra in India and the Jamuna in Bangladesh, is a crucial water source for millions. India has voiced concerns about possible ecological and security risks, stressing the need to protect downstream water interests. China, however, maintains the dam will not negatively affect lower riparian states.
The massive project is a key part of China’s plan to meet its carbon neutrality targets while boosting economic development in Tibet, which it annexed in 1950. Once completed, the dam could produce nearly three times the power of the Three Gorges Dam, which was the world’s largest when it opened in 2003 but displaced 1.4 million people.
Environmentalists and Tibetan groups warn the new project could disrupt Tibet’s fragile environment — the plateau known as the ‘Third Pole’ because of its vast glaciers that feed major Asian rivers supplying water to over a billion people.
Adding to the concerns is the dam’s location, just 30 kilometres from China’s disputed border with India, raising further questions about water security and regional stability in an already sensitive area.
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