China gives green light for first downstream dams on Brahmaputra

A draft of China’s new Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), which is set to be formally approved on March 11, has given the green light for the first dams to be built on the lower reaches of Yarlung Zangbo river, as the Brahmaputra is known in Tibet, before it flows into India.

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The draft outline of the new Five-Year Plan (FYP) for 2025 and “long range objectives through the year 2035” specifically mentions the building of hydropower bases on the lower reaches of the river as among the priority energy projects to be undertaken in the next five years.

The lower reaches refer to the sections of the river in Tibet before it flows into India.

The inclusion of the projects in the draft plan suggests the authorities have given the go-ahead to begin tapping the lower reaches for the first time, which marks a new chapter in the hydropower exploitation of the river.

Other major projects include the construction of coastal nuclear power plants and power transmission channels.

The project is also listed along with the Sichuan-Tibet railway and the national water network.

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