India concerned over China’s Brahmaputra dam

Dam is stated to be world’s largest. Pic/X@Indianinfoguide

China has recently approved the construction of the world's largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet close to the Indian border, raising concerns in India and Bangladesh. The hydropower project will be built in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, the Tibetan name for the Brahmaputra River, an official statement here said.

The dam will be built at a huge gorge in the Himalayan reaches where the Brahmaputra River makes a huge U-turn to flow into Arunachal Pradesh.

Defending its plan to build the dam, China said the project will not "negatively affect" lower riparian states and that safety issues have been addressed through decades of studies.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning played down apprehensions about the massive project to dam the Brahmaputra River, which is called Yarlung Zangbo in Tibet.

Concerns arose in India as the dam besides empowering China to control the water flow could enable Beijing to release large amounts of water flooding border areas.

India too is building a dam over Brahmaputra in Arunachal Pradesh. India and China established the Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) in 2006 to discuss various issues related to trans-border rivers.

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