The Chinese government has approved a project to build a hydroelectric power station on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet. It will be able to produce three times more electricity than the world’s largest Three Gorges Dam. About this informs Bloomberg.
The planned hydroelectric power station will be the largest on the planet, and its cost is estimated to reach 137 billion dollars. This will make it one of the most expensive infrastructure projects in history. The construction of this giant dam will be a key element of China’s economic growth.
However, the project is already causing concern in India, as the Yarlung Tsangpo River flows through the disputed territory of Arunachal Pradesh and then flows into one of India’s major rivers. The situation threatens to complicate relations between the countries, which only recently stabilized after a border conflict in June 2020 that killed around 20 Indian and at least 4 Chinese soldiers.
The construction of the hydroelectric plant will take at least ten years. According to David Fishman, senior manager of the energy consulting company Lantau Group, in order to use the generated energy effectively, it will need to be connected to China’s eastern power grid, because there is no demand for that amount of electricity in Tibet itself.
