India is planning to build a 10 gigawatts (GW) hydropower project in Arunachal Pradesh, news agency Reuters reported on Tuesday quoting a senior official, following reports that China could construct dams on a section of the Brahmaputra river.
On Monday, Chinese state media reported the country could build up to 60 GW of hydropower capacity on a section of the Brahmaputra, citing a senior executive. Yan Zhiyong, chairman of state-owned Power Construction Corporation of China, speaking at an industry conference, said plans to dam the river were a “historic opportunity”. The Brahmaputra flows from Tibet into India’s Arunachal Pradesh and down through Assam to Bangladesh. Authorities in India are concerned that Chinese dam projects could trigger flash floods or create water scarcity.
“The need of the hour is to have a big dam in Arunachal Pradesh to mitigate the adverse impact of the Chinese dam projects,” T.S. Mehra, a senior official in India’s water ministry, told Reuters. “Our proposal is under consideration at the highest level in the government,” he said, adding the Indian plan would create a large water storage capacity to offset the impact of Chinese dams on flows.
About the new dam, the Global Times report said that speculation about China planning to build a “super hydropower station” in Medog county, where the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon is located, have circulated for years.
As per reports, China has already built 11 dams on the Brahmaputra river. And now it is building another one in Medog, which is the last county in Tibet bordering Arunachal Pradesh.
Reports said that this is being built as part of 55 reservoirs that China has planned in Tibet, with an objective to provide water for its drier regions of Xinjiang and Gansu.
Analysts warned that damming the Brahmaputra could potentially develop into another flashpoint, as Beijing’s dam building activities moved closer to the Indian border. “India is facing China’s terrestrial aggression in the Himalayas, maritime encroachments on its backyard and, as the latest news is a reminder, even water wars,” Brahma Chellaney, a specialist on India-China ties, said in a tweet.
Tibet has about 200 million kWh of water resources, accounting for 30 per cent of the total in China.
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