China defends plan to build world’s largest dam across Brahmaputra River in Tibet | World News

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning on Friday downplayed fears over the country’s plan to build the world’s largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, saying the megaproject would have no impact on neighboring states and its Safety concerns have been taken into account through decades of studies.

The $137 billion project will be built along a tectonic plate boundary in the ecologically fragile Himalayan region. She said the world’s largest dam would have no impact on low-lying areas.

She said that China has always been responsible for the development of transboundary rivers, and that the development of hydropower in Tibet has been studied in detail for decades, and protective measures have been taken for the safety of the project as well as environmental and environmental protection.

She added that the project will not impact low-lying areas.

She said China will continue to maintain communication with countries in the sub-regions through existing channels and strengthen international cooperation in disaster prevention and relief.

China on Wednesday approved the construction of the world’s largest dam, considered the world’s largest infrastructure project, on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet near the Indian border.

The dam will be built on a huge gorge in the Himalayan mountains where the Brahmaputra river makes a major U-turn to flow to Arunachal Pradesh and then Bangladesh.

The capital required to complete the project could exceed 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion), which would be the largest infrastructure project ever on the planet.

The project would take at least a decade to build and would require connection to the power grid further east because there is “no need” for this type of energy supply in Tibet, said David Fishman, a Shanghai-based senior manager at Lantau Group, an energy consulting firm .

“It is a huge technical undertaking. The river itself has excellent hydroelectric resources,” he added.

“Everyone downstream will be worried about what it will mean if the water flow is reduced. I know India is very afraid of this.”

With contributions from PTI, Bloomberg