Melting Glaciers Threaten China’s Plan To Build Dam Over Brahmaputra
(This was originally posted in WION)
Melting glaciers and barrier lakes could threaten China’s plan to build the world’s biggest hydroelectric dam over the Brahmaputra River in Tibet close to the Arunachal Pradesh border, a media report said on Wednesday. The proposed dam, which one Chinese official said has ‘no parallel in history’ will be built in Medog county, where the Brahmaputra Grand Canyon is located. Medog is the last county in Tibet, which is located close to the Arunachal Pradesh border.
The plan to build the mega-dam, which is part of China’s 14th five-year plan beginning from this year, was approved by China’s Parliament, the National People’s Congress in March this year. But the engineers are concerned about the threats posed by landslides and barrier lakes to the dam, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
“But an icy obstacle could put a halt to much of the plan. In 2018, a landslide caused by a melting glacier blocked the Yarlung Tsangpo ‘the upper stream of the Brahmaputra River’ at the Sedongpu Basin in Milin county,” it said.
It formed a lake containing about 600 million cubic metres of water. With the river spilling over the top at present, the dam could collapse at any time, it said. The Sedongpu lake sits just a few dozen kilometres upstream from the planned construction site of the super hydropower plant. With so much water hanging overhead, no construction workers can move in to clear the ground, it said.
To build the big dam, they must get rid of the small dam formed by the landslide first, the report said. India and Bangladesh, the lower riparian states, have raised concerns over China’s plan to build the massive dam on Brahmaputra River. But China has downplayed such anxieties saying it would keep their interests in mind.
