Construction has begun on the world’s largest hydropower dam, a $167bn Chinese project on the Yarlung Zangbo River, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Five cascade hydropower stations will produce electricity for the national grid and also locally in Tibet. The project will be built and operated by China Yajiang Group.
The 1,700km-long Yarlung Zangbo River runs through the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, where it’s known as the Brahmaputra, before flowing through Bangladesh and emptying into the Bay of Bengal.
Concerns have been raised about the impact of the dam on the water supply in Bangladesh and India, plus the environmental impact on Tibet and the possibility of earthquakes due to Tibet’s large number of fault lines.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs is quoted in The Times of India: “China has been urged to ensure that the interests of the downstream states of the Brahmaputra are not harmed by activities in upstream areas.”
Chinese officials have claimed the dam would help meet China’s carbon neutrality goals and create jobs in Tibet.
The new project could generate three times as much energy as the world’s current largest hydropower dam, the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River.
The new dam is due to become operational in the 2030s. The groundbreaking took place at Nyingchi Mainling’s hydropower station.
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