The Chinese National People’s Congress (NPC) on March 11, 2021 approved for the first dams to be built on the lower reaches of Yarlung Zangbo river, as the Brahmaputra is known in Tibet, before it flows into India.
- The dams are parts of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025).
- Rising in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), the arlung Zangbo river flows into Arunachal Pradesh as Siang river, and then as Brahmaputra river in Assam before into Bangladesh.
- In 2015 China operationalised its first hydropower project at Zangmu in Tibet, while three other dams at Dagu, Jiexu and Jiacha are being developed, all on the upper and middle reaches of the river.
- India has expressed concerns to China over the four planned dams on the upper and middle reaches.
- However, the dams are not likely to greatly impact the quantity of the Brahmaputra’s flows in India because they are only storing water for power generation, and the Brahmaputra is not entirely dependent on upstream flows.
- Dams on the lower reaches and at the Great Bend would, however, raise fresh concerns because of the location across the border from Arunachal Pradesh and the potential impact downstream.
(Source: The Hindu)
