China to build world’s largest hydropower dam in Tibet

Among them are fears that the construction of the dam – first announced in late-2020 – could displace local communities, as well as significantly alter the natural landscape and damage local ecosystems, which are among the richest and most diverse on the Tibetan Plateau.

Reports indicate that the colossal development would require at least four 20km-long tunnels to be drilled through the Namcha Barwa mountain, diverting the flow of the Yarlung Tsangpo, Tibet’s longest river.

Chinese authorities have stressed that the project would not have major environmental impact – but they have not indicated how many people it would displace. The Three Gorges hydropower dam required the resettlement of 1.4 million people.

Experts and officials have also flagged concerns that the dam would empower China to control or divert the flow of the trans-border river, which flows south into India’s Arunachal Pradesh and Assam states and onwards into Bangladesh.

A 2013 report published by the Lowy Institute, an Australian-based think tank, noted that “control over these rivers [in the Tibetan Plateau] effectively gives China a chokehold on India’s economy”.

Shortly after China announced its plans for the Yarlung Tsangpo dam project in 2020, a senior Indian government official told Reuters that India’s government was exploring the development of a large hydropower dam and reservoir “to mitigate the adverse impact of the Chinese dam projects”.

China’s foreign ministry has previously responded to India’s concerns around the proposed dam, saying in 2020 that China has a “legitimate right” to dam the river and has considered downstream impacts.