India Plans Mega Dam, With Eye on China's Hydropower Station in Tibet

Delhi says move will generate electricity, counter any threats from Chinese dam

- Debarshi Dasgupta

NEW DELHI - Mr Tabeng Siram has farmed in the fertile valley of the Siang river in India's hilly northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh for decades, cultivating crops such as rice, orange, cardamom and ginger. It is something his ancestors also did.

But this centuries-old agrarian lifestyle is at risk from plans to build India's biggest dam - the US$13.2 billion (S$17 billion) Upper Siang Multipurpose Project (USMP) that could flood his land.

The threat for Mr Siram and others in this region, however, is not just from India's dam - further upstream, China has just started building the even larger Medog Hydropower Station. Combined, both dams could greatly affect one of South Asia's most important rivers, the Brahmaputra, which is the lifeblood for millions of people.

Experts say the race to build these mega dams reflects the intense geopolitical rivalry between India and China, as well as both countries' need for energy. But such large dams will inevitably affect water flow along the river and flood control - and both are being built in an earthquake-prone region.

The 11.2-gigawatt (GW) USMP has been billed by the Indian government as a "strategic necessity", one that will not just generate electricity, but also counter possible threats posed by the 60GW Medog Hydropower Station. That dam is being built on the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet.

The river is known as the Siang in Arunachal Pradesh and the Brahmaputra farther downstream, where it becomes a vital waterway for transport and source of rich alluvial sediment for growing rice, tea and other crops.

The Brahmaputra river basin covers 580,000 sq km across Tibet, Bhutan, north-east India and Bangladesh, where it joins the Padma or Ganges river.