Key Points:
- On Thursday, the Chinese parliament gave a green signal to the construction of a major dam and hydropower plant on the lower reaches of Yarlung Zangbo river in Tibet.
- This is near the border with the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
- He Lifeng termed the development of hydropower on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo river as a world-class landmark project alongside the Sichuan-Tibet railway and the coastal railway project along the Yangtze river.
- The dam that will be built has the capability to generate hydropower three times times that of central China’s Three Gorges Dam, which has the largest installed hydropower capacity in the world.
On Thursday, the Chinese parliament gave a green signal to the construction of a major dam and hydropower plant on the lower reaches of Yarlung Zangbo river in Tibet. This is near the border with the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
It was the National People’s Congress (NPC) who approved the project during its closing session on March 11 as a part of the country’s 14th five-year plan.
He Lifeng termed the development of hydropower on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo river as a world-class landmark project alongside the Sichuan-Tibet railway and the coastal railway project along the Yangtze river who is the director of China’s top planning body, the national development and reform commission (NDRC).
Last Saturday, Che Dalha, deputy Communist Party chief of TAR had said authorities should “strive to begin construction this year”. “Comprehensive planning and environmental impact assessments for the project should be approved as soon as possible,” he said on Saturday, according to a press release quoted by Reuters and published on Monday on an official regional government website.
The Yarlung Zangbo flows through Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and into Arunachal Pradesh as Siang, and then as Brahmaputra in Assam before flowing into Bangladesh.
China shares more than 50 prominent channels with over 14 neighbouring countries downstream. With such benefits, China can hold back a major amount of water, upto 730 bcm (billion cubic meters) from its neighbouring countries, which can make this move a strategic asset.
“China will build a hydropower project on the Yarlung Zangbo river, one of the major waters in Asia that also passes through India and Bangladesh,” the state-run tabloid Global Times had said in a report on the project in November.
The dam that will be built has the capability to generate hydropower three times times that of central China’s Three Gorges Dam, which has the largest installed hydropower capacity in the world.
