A rumble is heard in the heart of Tibet.
This July 19, 2025, in Nyingchi, a small Tibetan town hanging on the slopes of southeast Himalayas, a handful of Chinese officials, well-adjusted boots and helmets, symbolically pressed the first shovel in the ground of a site that will mark the story: the largest hydroelectric dam in the world.
This giant dam, still without official name, aims to produce 300 billion kilowatt hours of electricity each year, this represents three times the capacity of the three-Gorges dam, already the most powerful in the world!
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The site moved to the Yarlung Tsangpo, a river with a thousand faces. Born on the roof of the world, it flows first peacefully through the Tibetan high lands, then sinks into one of the deepest canyons on the planet before switching south. He then became the Brahmapoutre, a vital artery for millions of people in India and Bangladesh.
At first glance, a dam in the high-tribet might seem trivial. Except that any restraint of water, any modification of the flow, any acceleration or slowdown of the current can have consequences well downstream: submerged crops, dried rice fields, disturbed deltas. In a region where the border tensions between India and China are still burning, it could well be the drop of water that overflows the vase …
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The book is in truth not a single dam but a complex of five water -in -house hydroelectric plants, at different altitudes, like a giant staircase carved in the mountains. Total investment is estimated at 1,200 billion yuan, or around 154 billion euros. We are talking about one of the most expensive and ambitious projects here of the 21st century.
Officially, production will be used to feed the Chinese network, but also to export electricity to neighboring countries. A gesture presented as generous, almost altruistic, except that behind the scenes, some see it as a way for Beijing to extend its influence by selling goods either, but megawatts.
The Chinese government wants to be reassuring. He talks about shared benefits, prevention of natural disasters, energy cooperation. He ensures that in -depth environmental studies have been carried out and that never, to the most of the dam will be used as a political pressure instrument.
A Himalayas under tension
Despite these guarantees, distrust persists. On the Indian side, the authorities accelerate their own hydroelectric projects, especially in the Arunachal Pradesh, a region that China continues to claim as an integral part of Tibet, which does not help.
For observers, the dam is not only a technical project. It is a strong geopolitical signal, a milestone placed in a region where each river, each mountain, each square meter can become a pretext for tension. In Delhi, some analysts already evoke the worst scenario: that where the flow of the Brahmapoutre would be manipulated during periods of diplomatic tensions. No need for a weapon, it would be enough to close a tap.
Green promises, very real risks
Beyond border issues, the extent of the project raises important ecological concerns. The Yarlung Tsangpo is going through an ecosystem of unique richness, populated by endemic species and old forests. The slightest disruption of the flow can cause the disappearance of migratory fish, nesting birds, or even millennial crops adapted to a very precise water cycle.
Thousands of inhabitants will also have to leave their land, sometimes hamlets perched for generations on the slopes of the river. These trips are not new in China, where millions of people were relocated during the construction of the Trois-Gorges dam. But here, at 3,000 meters above sea level, the conditions are extreme, the alternatives rare, and the resistances more stubborn.
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A state company for an empire project
To pilot this titanic electricity factory, China has created a new player from scratch: China Yajiang Group, a public enterprise cut for the occasion. It will be responsible for construction, daily management and, on paper, ecological preservation. A kind of super-company dedicated to a single river.
During his inauguration speech, Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Guoqing insisted on technological innovation, seismic security, environmental compatibility. Words that sound well, but wait to be translated into acts. Because even the best technology cannot predict everything in a region regularly shaken by earthquakes.
Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/china-begins-construction-of-167-billion-mega-dam-over-brahmaputra-in-tibet-2758406-2025-07-20
Image: Lake Basum in Nyingchi in China
