China’s green light for first downstream dams on Brahmaputra

In news: Recently, China has given green signal for first downstream dams on Brahmaputra

Key updates

• A draft of China’s new Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), which is set to be formally approved on March 11, 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. 
• The long term object of the plan is the building of hydropower bases on the lower reaches(sections of the river in Tibet) of the river as among the priority energy projects to be undertaken in the next five years.
• As per the Chinese media reports, State-owned hydropower company POWERCHINA had signed “a strategic cooperation agreement” with the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) government to “implement hydropower exploitation in the downstream of the Yarlung Zangbo River
• The plan also proposes to have “clean energy bases” in the upper and lower reaches of Jinsha river (the upper course of Yangtze river in western China).
• Other major projects include the construction of coastal nuclear power plants and power transmission channels.
• Infrastructure strategy: The proposed plan mentions 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.

Other projects of China on Brahmaputra river

In 2015 China operationalised 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. 

What is the concern?

 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.