China to build world’s largest hydropower dam in Tibet
China has approved construction of the world’s largest hydroelectric dam, raising concerns about the displacement of Tibetan communities and downstream environmental impacts in India and Bangladesh.
The dam will be located on the lower reaches of the Brahmaputra River and will generate three times more electricity than the Three Gorges Dam, currently the world’s largest hydropower station.
Chinese state media described the development as “a security project that prioritizes ecological protection,” saying it would boost local prosperity and contribute to Beijing’s climate neutrality goals.
However, human rights groups and experts have expressed concern about the knock-on effects of this development.
Among them are concerns that the construction of the dam, first announced in late 2020, could displace local communities and significantly alter the natural landscape and damage the local ecosystem, one of the richest and most diverse on the Tibetan Plateau. .
China has built several dams in the Tibetan region – a controversial topic that has been tightly controlled by Beijing since its annexation of Tibet in the 1950s.
Activists have previously told the BBC that the dams were the latest example of Beijing exploiting Tibetans and their land. Predominately Buddhist Tibet has experienced waves of repression over the years, with thousands believed to have been killed.
Earlier this year, the Chinese government rounded up hundreds of Tibetans protesting against another hydroelectric dam. The incident ended with arrests and beatings, some seriously injured, The BBC understands from sources and verified footage.
They have been opposing plans to build the Gangtok dam and hydropower station as it would displace several villages and submerge ancient monasteries and holy relics. However, Beijing said it had relocated and compensated locals and moved the ancient murals to a safe location.
In the case of the Brahmaputra dam, Chinese authorities have stressed that the project will have no major environmental impact but have not indicated how many people it will displace. The Three Gorges Hydropower Station requires the resettlement of 1.4 million people.
According to reports, this large-scale development will require the drilling of at least four 20-kilometer-long tunnels in Namcha Barwa Mountain to divert the flow of the Brahmaputra River, the longest river in Tibet.
Experts and officials are also concerned that the dam would allow China to control or divert the flow of the cross-border river, which flows south into the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam and then into Bangladesh.
A 2020 report by the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, noted that “control of these rivers[on the Tibetan Plateau]effectively allows China to strangle India’s economy.”
Shortly after China announced plans for a 2020 Brahmaputra dam project, a senior Indian government official told Reuters that the Indian government was exploring the development of large hydropower dams and reservoirs “to mitigate the adverse impacts of China’s dam projects.”
China’s foreign ministry had previously responded to India’s concerns about the proposed dam, saying China had the “legitimate right” to build the river in 2020 and had considered downstream impacts.
Over the past decade, China has built several hydropower stations along the Brahmaputra River in an effort to harness the river’s power as a renewable energy source. The river flows through the deepest canyon on earth. In a span of just 50 kilometers, with a section of the river varying as much as 2,000 meters, the potential for hydroelectric power generation is huge.
However, the river’s topography also poses significant engineering challenges – this latest dam is China’s largest and most ambitious to date.
The development site is located along an earthquake-prone plate boundary. Chinese researchers have previously worried that such large-scale excavation and construction in steep, narrow canyons would increase the frequency of landslides.
“Landslides and debris flows caused by earthquakes are often uncontrollable and can also pose a huge threat to projects.” A senior engineer from the Sichuan Provincial Geological Bureau said in 2022.
The project could cost up to one trillion yuan ($127 billion; £109.3 billion), according to estimates from the Chongyi Water Conservancy Bureau.
