India Plans Mega Siang Dam to Counter China’s Water Threats

ITANAGAR: The Xi Jinping-led Chinese government has approved the construction of the world’s largest hydropower dam in Tibet on the Yarlung Tsangpo River, which originates near Mount Kailash in Chinese-occupied Tibet (CoT) and flows over 1,000 km eastward through the Tibetan plateau before taking a sharp U-turn at Namcha Barwa to enter Arunachal Pradesh as the Siang River, which then merges with the Dibang and Lohit Rivers to become the Brahmaputra as it enters Assam and flows into Bangladesh as the Jamuna before merging into the Bay of Bengal.

The proposed Rs 1.13-lakh-crore Siang Upper Multipurpose Project (SUMP), which could generate up to 11,000 MW of electricity, is critical to counter the dangers posed to India by China’s mega hydroelectric and water storage projects on the Yarlung Tsangpo River, having wider implications for India’s national security and the ecology of the states in India and Bangladesh, affecting millions.

“People should allow us to do a pre-visibility survey (PFS), and if it is feasible to make a dam in Siang in two years, we will make a detailed project report (DPR), and if it is not beneficial for the people, then we will not build the dam on the Siang River, but if it is, then we will go ahead.” Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein reasoned.

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