China has announced plans to build a dam in Tibet three times the size of Three Gorges, the world’s largest hydropower plant. India and Bangladesh, both downstream along the Yarlung Tsangpo river on which the Mutuo dam would be built, aren’t happy.
Delhi is fast-tracking a reservoir in the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh in the expectation that the project could reduce flows and lead to China’s “hydro hegemony” over precious Himalayan water resources.
Beijing is under pressure to release data and plans for the dam, which experts say could take a decade to build and involve diverting water through holes drilled into a 500 metre-deep canyon.
If built, it could provide a colossal 60GW of electricity. But seismic events are common in Tibet. Chinese officials said cracks appeared on five hydropower dams after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit the plateau this month.
