Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese leader Xi Jinping (Photo: REUTERS)
The Chinese government has approved the construction of the
world’s largest hydroelectric dam on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo
River in occupied Tibet, near the border with India, Bloomberg wrote on Dec. 27.
The dam’s construction is expected to attract $137 billion
(1 trillion yuan) in investments, making it one of the most expensive
infrastructure projects in history.
Experts predict that the project will take at least 10 years
to complete and will require the creation of a new power grid, as Tibet “has no
need” for such a large-scale energy supply.
At the same time, it is noted that the hydroelectric project
could negatively affect Tibet’s ecological situation, including the destruction
of the region’s last tigers.
According to the publication, hydropower is the
second-largest source of electricity generation in China, accounting for nearly
14% of the total last year.
As reported by Interfax-Ukraine, this project is raising
concerns for the governments of India and Bangladesh, which fear that the dam’s
construction could harm the environment and alter the flow of the Brahmaputra
River, the largest tributary of the Ganges.
Earlier, analysts considered the construction of the dam on
the river unlikely due to the high cost of delivering materials and workers to
the remote region, as well as the need to lay long power transmission lines.
In 2020, the head of the Power Construction Corporation of
China stated that the potential electricity production in the lower reaches of
the river could reach 70 GW.
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