By Tsering Dhundup
DHARAMSHALA, July 19: Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Saturday officially launched construction of a massive hydroelectric dam project on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet on Saturday, according to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency.
The project, with a staggering planned investment of 1.2 trillion yuan ($167 billion), was announced during a ceremony in Nyingchi City, located in the traditional U-Tsang province of Tibet, just north of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
According to the report, the new project will be executed by a newly established company, China Yajiang Group, and will consist of five cascade dams. While specific capacity figures were not disclosed, the generated power is expected to primarily support energy demands outside Tibet, with some provision for local consumption.
Premier Li, who also serves as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, hailed the dam as a key step in revitalising China’s slowing economy. The project’s scale and cost make it one of the most expensive infrastructure initiatives in Chinese history.
However, the announcement has stirred geopolitical concerns, particularly in India, as the Yarlung Tsangpo flows into the Brahmaputra River, which serves as a lifeline for millions in India’s northeast. The river runs through the disputed Arunachal Pradesh region, which China claims as part of its territory. While Beijing insists the dam will not negatively impact downstream regions, New Delhi and environmental experts remain wary.
Environmentalists within China have long raised alarms about large-scale damming in the ecologically fragile Yarlung Tsangpo gorge, where the river plunges 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) over a 50-kilometre (31-mile) stretch. The region is a national nature reserve that ranks among China’s richest biodiversity zones. Critics warn that such construction could cause irreversible damage to the ecosystem and displace local communities.
China’s dam-building spree in Tibet is part of a broader pattern of resource extraction and strategic consolidation. Tibet accounts for roughly 30% of China’s hydropower potential. In addition to hydropower, Chinese state-backed enterprises have been extensively mining Tibet’s rich deposits of lithium, copper, gold, and rare earth elements. Water diversion plans, such as the proposed South-North Water Transfer Project, further threaten to reroute major Tibetan rivers to China’s arid northern regions, impacting ecosystems and water security downstream.
The consequences for the Tibetan people have been severe. Thousands have been forcibly relocated from ancestral lands to make way for dams and mining operations. Traditional grazing areas have been flooded or degraded, leading to the loss of livelihoods. Sacred sites have been submerged or made inaccessible, accelerating cultural erosion. The cumulative ecological damage threatens not only Tibet’s high-altitude biodiversity but also the health of river systems that sustain communities across South and Southeast Asia.
