New Delhi, Dec 17: Hundreds of miles from China’s eastern seaboard, a dramatic bend in a remote Himalayan River is poised to host one of Beijing’s most ambitious and controversial infrastructure projects, a $168 billion hydropower system on Tibet’s Yarlung Tsangpo river that could reshape regional energy, ecology and geopolitics.
According to a detailed report by CNN, the project, expected to generate more electricity than any dam in the world, will harness a 2000-metre drop in altitude at the river’s “Great Bend” through a network of tunnels, dams, and underground power stations.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has personally pushed for the project to be “advanced forcefully, systematically, and effectively,” underscoring its strategic importance for China’s clean-energy push and national security goals.
While Beijing projects the dam as a climate-friendly alternative to coal, experts warn that its consequences will not stop at China’s borders.
Tens of millions of people in downstream India and Bangladesh depend on the river Brahmaputra after it enters India, for drinking water, agriculture and fisheries.
Scientists cited by CNN caution that the environmental and hydrological impacts on these downstream regions remain poorly studied.
Indian media has already labelled the project a potential “water bomb,” reflecting concerns that China could gain leverage over transboundary water flows, especially during periods of political tension.
The dam’s location near the disputed China-India border in Arunachal Pradesh further raises fears that water could become a strategic tool in an already volatile bilateral relationship.
“This is the most sophisticated, innovative dam system the planet has ever seen,” Brian Eyler of the Stimson Center told CNN, adding that it is also “the riskiest and potentially the most dangerous.”
Alterations in sediment flow, seasonal flooding patterns and fish migration could significantly affect farming and fishing livelihoods in Assam and downstream Bangladesh, experts warn. China, however, has rejected such concerns.
In a statement to CNN, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the project had undergone “decades of in-depth research” and included “thorough measures for engineering safety and ecological protection,” insisting it would not adversely affect downstream countries.
Beijing also claimed it has maintained transparency and would share necessary information as the project progresses.
Yet analysts say transparency has been limited.
CNN’s investigation, drawing on satellite imagery, official documents and open-source data, indicates extensive construction activity since July, including road-building, bridge construction, and village relocations, even as detailed technical information remains scarce.
As construction gathers pace, India and Bangladesh face a shared dilemma: how to engage a powerful upstream neighbour on an opaque project that could alter the ecological and economic lifelines of South Asia’s great river basin for decades to come.
