Largest Dam in India
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Government
Largest Dam in Indian History Will Be Built on a Tributary of the Brahmaputra River But, with No Public Consultation or Study of Downstream Impacts
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the green light to construction of the 3,000 megawatt Dibang hydropower project in the ecologically fragile region of Arunachal Pradesh, north-eastIndia.
The proposed dam on theDibang River, a major tributary of the Brahmaputra close to the border with China, will be India's largest and one of the world's tallestdams.
The Forest Advisory Committee of India's Ministry of Environment and Forests cleared the dam last week, subject to a reduction in the dam height by 20 metres from the originally envisaged 288metres.
The committee has refused environmental clearances for the project twice before on the grounds it would destroy forests and impact theDibru-Saikhowa National Parkdownstream in Assamstate.
The National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) -the company behind the dam - submitted several revised proposals to the ministry, reducing the amount of forest cleared and the height of the dam structure. But on August 28 the Forest Advisory Committee rejected the latest proposal to submerge more than 45 square kilometres of forest land for theproject.
Opening thefloodgates
The central government has decided to build the project without any public consultation or study of the potential impacts in downstream Assam state. Anti-dam activists are now concerned Modi's government will now push ahead witha series of mega dams planned in the northeast region, ignoring all expert and advisory committees in an attempt to harness "green"hydropower.
The Dibang is just one of168 massive damsslated to produce57,000 megawatts of hydropower in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh states. This strategically important region, which borders Myanmar in the east, Bhutan in the west and China in the north, is described by politicians asIndia's ‘future powerhouse' and is a key focus point of the country's dam buildingprogramme.
China is involved in a major dam building programme on its side of the border, also using the waters of the Brahmaputra - which it calls the Yarlung Tsangpo. China's plans to build a massive damthree timesthe size of the Three Gorges Dam on the Great Bend before the river swings round intoIndia.
The Brahmaputra is one of the world's major rivers, winding across the Tibetan Plateau through China, India and Bangladesh before joining with the Ganga and flowing out into the Bay ofBengal.
The dam building programme in north-east India has beenhighly controversial. Opponents say it not only ignores geological and ecological factors - it also fails to take into account the impact ofclimate changein theregion.
Experts also say no proper overall plan has been put in place: though India and China havesigned a limited agreementto data on river flow, there is no specific deal on managing the Brahmaputra'swaters.
Protests about the dams have been growing, with work on the2,000 megawatt Lower Subansiri damon one of the Brahmaputra's tributaries - repeatedly heldup.
Read More Related Content On This Topic - Click Here
Media
Taxonomy
- Infrastructure
- Dams
- Governance & Planning