China okays building of Brahmaputra superdam

The 'mother of all dams' with the projected cost of US $137 billion, is set to dwarf any infrastructure project on the planet and will have huge lower riparian implications for both India and Bangladesh

- K J M Verma

In a move that is sure to raise eyebrows in New Delhi, China has approved the construction of the world's largest dam, touted as the planet's biggest infra project costing USD 137 billion, on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet close to the Indian border.

The move has lower riparian implications both for India and Bangladesh. The dam is to be built at a huge gorge in the Himalayan reaches where the Brahmaputra river makes a huge U-turn to flow into Arunachal Pradesh and then to Bangladesh. PTI reports that the state-run Xinhua news agency on Wednesday said that the Chinese government has approved the construction of a hydropower project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, the Tibetan name for the Brahmaputra. It was thus far thought to be at the status of a plan.