Kathmandu, April 17. The People’s Republic of China has revealed in its government website that it is going to construct a dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo River, which flows north into the Indian Brahmaputra river.

The Section 14, chapter two of the website has a heading reads that “Expanding investment space”, which elaborates upon the project.

Putting geopolitics aside, the dam is said to be the largest dam in the world. Previously, China’s Three Gorges Dam was the largest dam in the world. Over 1.4 million people were displaced for the construction of the dam.

The new dam is expected to produce at least 60 gigawatts of electricity. One gigawatt is the amount of energy captured by 3.125 million solar panels or 412 wind turbines. One gigawatt is also enough to power 110 million LED lights.

China will be building a dam upstream, which affects downstream countries i.e. India and Bangladesh. Under international law, countries that are upstream of a river have the sovereignty to build dams on their stretch of water, even though it may impact countries further downstream. Furthermore, China is not a party to UN Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, which is a drawback for India to seek help in the international arena.

India and Bangladesh will have to depend on China for the release of water during dry seasons whereas there will be dangers of floods during monsoon. Risk of natural disasters and loss of human life would be high as the area is prone to earthquakes.

The dam would be constructed at the border, posing minimum risks to China.