China’s ‘Super Hydropower Dam’ Raises Indian Hackles
Fears grow of Sino-Indian water war
By: Genevieve Donnellon-May
The already strained relationship between China and India is becoming even more tense over Beijing’s plans to build a “super hydropower dam” in Tibet on a section of the Brahmaputra River, upstream from India. Delhi fears that the project could impede water supplies and increase its dependence on its neighbor for water. Beijing announced plans to build the dam in November 2020.
In March 2021, the National People’s Congress (NPC) approved the country’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025). A key objective listed in the document, which sets out the country’s national socio-economic and development goals, is the construction of what would be the world’s biggest dam on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo river in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Although the exact details are not publicly available, media reports note that Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina), a Chinese state-owned enterprise and the Tibet Autonomous Region government would construct a 50-meter-high hydropower dam at Medog (Tibet) on the Great Bend of the Brahmaputra, near the Indian border to generate 60-gigawatts of electricity annually.
That is more than three times the electricity produced by the Three Gorges Dam. India has responded to the proposed dam with great alarm and remains seriously concerned. Delhi has also announced that it is considering constructing a 10-gigawatt dam to mitigate the impact on water flows of the China’s mega project…