(TibetanReview.net, Jan04’25) –India has expressed concern Jan 3 over China’s approval of a plan to build a mega dam on the Yalung Tsangpo, close to its Arunachal Pradesh border, urging it to ensure that the interests of downstream states of the Brahmaputra (as the river is known by in India) are not harmed by activities in upstream areas.
The planned dam in Tibet is expected to cost one trillion yuan ($137 billion) to build and will be the largest in the world, dwarfing the current biggest, the Three Gorges Dam, located in China.
“We will continue to monitor and take necessary measures to protect our interests,” the PTI news agency Jan 3 quoted India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal as saying.
The apprehensions in India are not just that the damming of the mighty river will adversely affect the ecological balance of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam but also that China could use it as a hydrological weapon by playing with its flows during adverse situations.
“As a lower riparian state with established user rights to the waters of the river, we have consistently expressed, through expert-level as well as diplomatic channels, our views and concerns to the Chinese side over mega projects on rivers in their territory,” Jaiswal has said.
“These have been reiterated, along with need for transparency and consultation with downstream countries, following the latest report,” he has said.
“The Chinese side has been urged to ensure that the interests of downstream states of the Brahmaputra are not harmed by activities in upstream areas.”
Last week, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning played down the apprehensions about the project, saying “The project will not negatively affect the lower reaches,” referring to the concerns in India and Bangladesh.
“China will continue to maintain communication with countries at the lower reaches through existing channels and step up cooperation on disaster prevention and relief for the benefit of the people by the river,” she said.
However, such claims will hardly be reassuring to India. Sayanangshu Modak, a researcher on transboundary rivers and water governance at the University of Arizona, has said that for India, a major concern remains the risk of dam failure during emergencies caused by unprecedented weather or seismic events.
“This area is highly prone to earthquakes of varying magnitudes due to intense seismic activity from endogenic forces,” the scmp.com Dec 28 quoted him as saying, noting that a massive glacier collapse in Mar 2021 near the Great Bend area blocked the river and caused water levels to rise by 10 metres (33 feet).
“These cascading effects underscore the fragility of the region, and the grave risks associated with large-scale hydropower projects,” he has said.