China’s Large and Mysterious Dam Project Is Alarming Neighbors and Experts
The hydropower dam, in quake-prone Tibet, is set to be the world’s biggest. But China has said little about the project, which could affect nearby countries.
Step aside, Three Gorges Dam. China’s latest colossal infrastructure project, if completed, will be the world’s largest hydropower dam, high up in the Tibetan plateau on the border with India.
China says the Motuo Hydropower Station it is building in Tibet is key to its effort to meet clean energy targets. Beijing also sees infrastructure projects as a way to stimulate the sluggish Chinese economy and create jobs.
But this project has raised concerns among environmentalists and China’s neighbors — in part, because Beijing has said so little about it.
The area where the dam is being built is prone to earthquakes. The Tibetan river being dammed, the Yarlung Tsangpo, flows into neighboring India as the Brahmaputra and into Bangladesh as the Jamuna, raising concerns in those countries about water security.
China announced in late December that the government had approved construction of the Motuo project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo, but it has released few details about it. That includes the cost of the project, where the money will come from, what companies are involved and how many people are likely to be displaced.
