China gives green light for first downstream dams on Brahmaputra Â
Context: A draft of China’s new Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), which is set to be formally approved has given the green light 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.
Details:
- The draft outline of the new Five-Year Plan (FYP) for 2025 and long range objectives through the year 2035, submitted before the National People’s Congress (NPC).
- The lower reaches refer to the sections of the river in Tibet before it flows into India.
- The high importance given to building dams on the “lower reaches” of the Yarlung Zangbo is underlined in the plan, where it is also mentioned on page 38 of the document among significant planned investments in infrastructure that serve major national strategies.
- The project is also listed along with the Sichuan-Tibet railway and the national water network.
- In 2015 China operationalized 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’s Concern:
- India has expressed concerns to China over the four planned dams on the upper and middle reaches, though Indian officials have said 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 with an estimated 35% of its basin in India.
- 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.
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