Why in the News?
China has commenced the construction of a massive hydropower project on the Yarlung Tsangpo river (Brahmaputra in India) in southeastern Tibet.
About the Mega Dam Project on Brahmaputra (Yarlung Tsangpo):
- Location: Nyingchi, southeastern Tibet, on the Yarlung Tsangpo River (Brahmaputra in India).
- Project Size: Estimated investment of 1.2 trillion yuan (USD 167 billion).
- Components: Comprises five cascade hydropower stations.
- Power Generation: Expected to produce 300 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually.
- Objective:
- Contribute to China’s carbon neutrality target by 2060.
- Meet local power needs in Tibet and supply electricity to other Chinese provinces.
- Concerns:
- Environmental risks in a seismically active and ecologically fragile zone.
- Geopolitical tensions with downstream countries (India, Bangladesh).
- Potential impact on river flow and water availability downstream.
- Strategic Significance: Close to India-China border, raising concerns amid existing border disputes.
You should know: Three Gorges Dam
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| [UPSC 2011] The Brahmaputra, Irrawady and Mekong rivers originate in Tibet and flow it through narrow and parallel mountain ranges in their upper reaches. Of these rivers, Brahmaputra makes a “U” turn in its course to flow into India. This “U” turn is due to:
(a) Uplift of folded Himalayan series (b) Syntaxial bending of geologically young Himalayas (c) Geo-tectonic disturbance in the tertiary folded mountain chains (d) Both (A) and (B) above |
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