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Beijing, July 24: China on Wednesday defended its decision to begin construction of a dam on the Brahmaputra River in the ecologically fragile Tibet region, seeking to ease concerns raised by downstream countries like India and Bangladesh.
India is reportedly closely monitoring the project, which is being touted as the world’s largest hydropower dam.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun, responding to questions about apprehensions in India and Bangladesh, stated during a media briefing that the project “will not have any negative impact on the downstream regions.”
Despite the assurances, environmental concerns have been growing in India regarding the possible fallout of the dam.
The project is expected to generate over 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually—enough to power more than 300 million people.
India’s concerns also stem from the dam’s potential to give China significant control over water flow, with fears that it could one day be used to release massive volumes of water, potentially causing floods in India’s border areas.
Playing down the concerns of the lower riparian states, Guo said China has cooperated with them by sharing hydrological data, flood prevention and disaster alleviation.
China had necessary communication with the two countries on the project, he said, adding that China would continue to enhance cooperation with downstream countries to benefit the people along the river.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the development of the project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River is a matter of China’s sovereignty.
The project was aimed at building clean energy, improving local people’s lives and in response to climate change, he added.
In the planning, design and construction of the hydro power projects in the lower reaches, China strictly follows the highest industrial standards in protecting the ecological environment, he said.
He also claimed that the development of the project will help prevent disasters along the whole river and will not have a negative impact on the downstream regions.
Critics point out that the dams in Brahmaputra present an enormous engineering challenge as the project site is located along a tectonic plate boundary where earthquakes occur frequently.
The Tibetan plateau, regarded as the roof of the world, periodically experiences earthquakes as it is located over the tectonic plates.
PTI
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