Guwahati: China officially commenced construction on Saturday of a colossal $167.8 billion dam project on the Yarlung Zangbo river in Tibet, near the Indian border with Arunachal Pradesh, reports said.
This river is known as the Siang in Arunachal Pradesh and the Brahmaputra in Assam, India.
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Chinese Premier Li Qiang marked the initiation of the dam’s construction at a groundbreaking ceremony held in the lower reaches of the river, in Nyingchi City, according to official media reports.
The ceremony took place at the dam site of Nyingchi’s Mainling hydropower station within the Tibet Autonomous Region, as reported by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
This hydropower project, touted as the largest infrastructure undertaking globally, has sparked considerable concern in downstream riparian nations, particularly in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in India and Bangladesh.
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The ambitious project will feature five cascade hydropower stations, with a total investment projected to be around 1.2 trillion Yuan (approximately $167.8 billion).
A 2023 report indicates that the hydropower station is anticipated to generate over 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, sufficient to meet the yearly power requirements of more than 300 million people. The generated electricity will primarily serve external consumption while also fulfilling local demand in Tibet, which China officially refers to as Xizang.
Representatives from various organizations, including the National Development and Reform Commission and the Power Construction Corporation of China, along with local residents, attended the ceremony.