Latest news with #dam
Zawya
a day ago
- Politics
- Zawya
New Dam Inaugurated in Dirfo Administrative Area
A new dam in the Dirfo administrative area, Central Region, constructed at a cost of over 15 million Nakfa with a capacity to hold more than 200 thousand cubic meters of water, was inaugurated on 22 July. The inauguration ceremony was attended by Mr. Fesehaye Haile, Governor of the Central Region; General Filipos Woldeyohannes, Chief of Staff of the Eritrean Defense Forces; as well as senior commanders of the Central Command and Popular Force. Eng. Abraham Daniel, head of agricultural infrastructure in the Central Region, stated that construction of the dam began in December 2023 and was completed in April 2025 with strong participation from the public and members of the Defense Forces. Commending the initiative as a lasting solution to the potable water supply problem of the residents, Mr. Omar Ibrahim, administrator of the area, expressed readiness to conduct regular follow-up for the sustainability of the dam. Noting that the project provided valuable hands-on experience, the Commander of the Defense Forces involved in the construction said it would significantly contribute to their future participation in similar national development projects. Mr. Fesehaye Haile, for his part, noted that in the past two years, new dams have been constructed in the administrative areas of Gul-i, Temameo, Adi-Qe, and Arbe Robu, and that the Dirfo dam is a continuation of the same initiative. Certificates of recognition were awarded to individuals and groups who contributed to the project. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Information, Eritrea.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Could China's Tibet mega dam help boost its sway with South Asian neighbours?
Advertisement According to some estimates, the dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo will be the world's biggest, producing up to 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, three times the output of the Three Gorges Dam. State news agency Xinhua said over the weekend that its output would 'primarily deliver electricity for external consumption' but would also meet local demand in Tibet. But the project has drawn concerns about the impact on water supply and ecological risks downstream in India and Bangladesh, where the river is known as the Brahmaputra, although Beijing has said it was not seeking to benefit at the 'expense of its neighbours' India is also worried about Beijing's efforts to strengthen its influence in South Asia, and Chinese observers said the project could help increase its sway over countries such as Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh, which have long struggled with power shortages. Advertisement The project 'will undoubtedly become a major power hub for surrounding countries and related neighbouring regions', according to Zhu Feng, dean of the school of international studies at Nanjing University.
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
China Says It Spoke With Neighbors on Planned Mega-Dam's Impacts
China said it has talked with countries downstream about its new dam project in Tibet, a massive undertaking that will affect a key source of water for India and Bangladesh. 'China has carried out cooperation on hydrology reporting, flood prevention and disaster alleviation with relevant downstream countries and has had necessary communication with them,' said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun during a regular press conference on Wednesday.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
China begins work on world's biggest dam
China has launched construction of a gargantuan dam that will produce enough electricity each year to power Britain - but neighbors India and Bangladesh warn it could be used to wage hydrowarfare. Chinese Premier Li Qiang officially launched the construction project for the Motuo Hydropower Station at a ceremony at a remote Tibetan village yesterday, describing it as the 'project of the century'. Five cascading hydropower stations will be installed along a bend in the Yarlung Zangpo river as it winds its way around the Namchabarwa mountain, with tunnels bored through the rock to force the water into turbines. Beijing says the dam, which is set to cost some 1.2 trillion yuan or £124 billion, will produce 300 billion kilowatt hours of electricity - more than triple the power output of the Three Gorges Dam in Yangtze central China, currently the world's largest. But the Yarlung Zangpo river flows into the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Amman and on into Bangladesh, to form the Siang, Brahmaputra and Jamuna rivers. These waterways are the lifeblood of civilization in one of the most fertile and populous regions in the world. Indian and Bangladeshi officials are raising the alarm, arguing that the new dam would effectively hand China the power to control and restrict the flow of water across the border - or cause devastating floods. Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu told the PTI news agency earlier this month that the Siang and Brahmaputra could 'dry up considerably' once the dam was completed and described the project as 'an existential threat to our livelihoods'. 'The issue is that China cannot be trusted. No one knows what they might do,' he said, warning Beijing could use the dam to create a 'water bomb' in a time of war. 'Suppose the dam is built and they suddenly release water, our entire Siang belt would be destroyed... (communities) would see all their property, land, and especially human life, suffer devastating effects.' Shares in China Energy Engineering, the lead contractor for the project, leapt 51% following the opening ceremony yesterday, with Power China and Huaxin Cement also enjoying notable boosts. This photo taken on July 19, 2020 shows water being released from the Three Gorges Dam, a gigantic hydropower project on the Yangtze river. China's foreign ministry says the dam will be instrumental in achieving Beijing's net zero by 2060 goal. It previously dismissed complaints from Indian authorities as early as 2017 over rising pollution in the Siang river as a result of earlier construction projects, and has asserted that Beijing has a 'legitimate right' to dam the Yarlung Zangpo. The ministry added that China never 'pursues benefits for itself at the expense of its neighbours. China will continue to maintain current exchange channels with downstream nations and step up cooperation on disaster prevention and mitigation.' But Indian officials are not convinced. New Delhi lodged a formal complaint with China in 2024, while Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Khandu announced that politicians are already working to put defensive measures in place. He told PTI that the state government has conceived a project called the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project - a dam that will act as a buffer to avert flooding in the event that China releases huge quantities of water upstream. 'I believe China is either about to start or has already started work on their side. But they do not share any information. 'Who will make China understand? Since we cannot make China see reason, it is better that we focus on our own defense mechanisms and preparations. That is what we are fully engaged in at the moment,' he said. Neither China nor India is a signatory to the Water Convention, a UN treaty which provides a legal and regulatory framework for the protection and management of transboundary surface waters and groundwaters. This means Beijing is not bound to monitor water levels and is not responsible for ensuring that downstream rivers are provided with enough water to maintain its economic activity, agriculture and aquatic life. India accounts for roughly 17 percent of the global population but has access to just 4 percent of its fresh water resources, according to data published by the Stockholm International Water Institute and the World Bank. Australia's Lowy Institute in 2020 reported that Beijing's 'control over these rivers [in the Tibetan Plateau] effectively gives China a chokehold on India's economy', while the Parley Policy Initiative's special adviser for South Asia, Neeraj Singh Manhas, told a BBC podcast in January that China 'can always weaponize this water in terms of blocking it or diverting it'. A reliable water supply is also vital for India's plans to rapidly expand its coal power plants in the coming years as the world's most populous nation looks to develop its industry. 'Water wars are a key component of warfare... (these dams) allow China to leverage its upstream Tibet-centerd power over the most essential natural resource,' political scientist Brahma Chellaney wrote in the Times of India. Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, also pointed out that the Tibetan Plateau, through which the Yarlung Zangpo river flows, experiences high levels of seismic activity. Damming the river could increase the risk of natural disasters, creating a 'ticking water bomb', he said. New Delhi's protest at China's construction project comes just months after India also threatened to demonstrate the strategic power of water as a weapon of war. In the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack in April that sparked a brief armed conflict between India and Pakistan, New Delhi suspended its participation in the Indus Waters Treaty, which obliges India to allow water to flow into Pakistan from the Indus River - a lifeline for Pakistan's agriculture and economy. Dr Manali Kumar, an expert in Indian foreign policy at the University of St. Gallen, told MailOnline the move carried 'immense risks' and was perceived by Pakistan as an 'existential threat'. 'This also sets a dangerous precedent for the weaponisation of shared resources, raising alarms among India's other neighbours who will be watching how this develops very carefully,' Dr Kumar warned. China's new dam and India's suspension of the Indus Water Treaty are just the latest examples of the myriad ways in which controlling the flow of the world's most vital resource can be used as an instrument of leverage in foreign policy, or a tool of war. The Pacific Institute reported global water-related violence surged by more than 50 percent in 2023 alone, as states and non-state actors alike realize the leverage water offers. Despite this, international institutions still largely view water as a development or environmental issue rather than a national security flashpoint, and there is no robust legal framework that clearly classifies the manipulation of water flows to coerce nations or harm civilians as a war crime. Advocates argue that the deliberate weaponisation of water must carry real consequences - from international sanctions to legal prosecutions and reparations - to prevent it from becoming a mechanism of modern conflicts. In the meantime, previous Chinese megadam construction projects have proven devastating for local populations and aquatic biodiversity. The Three Gorges Dam, finished in 2012 on the Yangtze River, created a huge man-made reservoir and displaced 1.4 million inhabitants upstream. Tempa Gyaltsen Zamlha, an environmental policy specialist at the Tibet Policy Institute, a think tank linked to the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamshala, India, said the same consequences would be felt around Yarlung Zangpo. 'We have a very rich Tibetan cultural heritage in those areas, and any dam construction would cause ecological destruction, submergence of parts of that region. 'Many local residents would be forced to leave their ancestral homes,' he said, adding that the project will encourage migration of Han Chinese workers that 'gradually becomes a permanent settlement'. 'Building a dam the size of the super-dam is likely a really bad idea for many reasons,' said Brian Eyler, energy, water and sustainability program director at the Stimson Center, a US think tank. The dam would block the migration of fish as well as sediment flow that enriches the soil during seasonal floods downstream, said Eyler.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
China begins work on world's biggest dam as nuclear-armed neighbour India warns of 'ticking water bomb' amid fears giant structure will be used as 'hydrowarfare weapon'
China has launched construction of a gargantuan dam that will produce enough electricity each year to power Britain - but neighbours India and Bangladesh warn it could be used to wage hydrowarfare. Chinese Premier Li Qiang officially launched the construction project for the Motuo Hydropower Station at a ceremony at a remote Tibetan village yesterday, describing it as the 'project of the century'. Five cascading hydropower stations will be installed along a bend in the Yarlung Zangpo river as it winds its way around the Namchabarwa mountain, with tunnels bored through the rock to force the water into turbines. Beijing says the dam, which is set to cost some 1.2 trillion yuan or £124 billion, will produce 300 billion kilowatt hours of electricity - more than triple the power output of the Three Gorges Dam in Yangtze central China, currently the world's largest. But the Yarlung Zangpo river flows into the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Amman and on into Bangladesh, to form the Siang, Brahmaputra and Jamuna rivers. These waterways are the lifeblood of civilisation in one of the most fertile and populous regions in the world. Indian and Bangladeshi officials are raising the alarm, arguing that the new dam would effectively hand China the power to control and restrict the flow of water across the border - or cause devastating floods. Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu told the PTI news agency earlier this month that the Siang and Brahmaputra could 'dry up considerably' once the dam was completed and described the project as 'an existential threat to our livelihoods'. 'The issue is that China cannot be trusted. No one knows what they might do,' he said, warning Beijing could use the dam to create a 'water bomb' in a time of war. 'Suppose the dam is built and they suddenly release water, our entire Siang belt would be destroyed... (communities) would see all their property, land, and especially human life, suffer devastating effects.' China's foreign ministry, having previously dismissed complaints from Indian authorities as early as 2017 over rising pollution in the Siang river as a result of earlier construction projects, has asserted it has a 'legitimate right' to dam the Yarlung Zangpo. The ministry added that China never 'pursues benefits for itself at the expense of its neighbours. China will continue to maintain current exchange channels with downstream nations and step up cooperation on disaster prevention and mitigation.' But Indian officials are not convinced. New Delhi lodged a formal complaint with China in 2024, while Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Khandu announced that politicians are already working to put defensive measures in place. He told PTI that the state government has conceived a project called the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project - a dam that will act as a buffer to avert flooding in the event that China releases huge quantities of water upstream. 'I believe China is either about to start or has already started work on their side. But they do not share any information. 'Who will make China understand? Since we cannot make China see reason, it is better that we focus on our own defence mechanisms and preparations. That is what we are fully engaged in at the moment,' he said. Neither China nor India is a signatory to the Water Convention, a UN treaty which provides a legal and regulatory framework for the protection and management of transboundary surface waters and groundwaters. This means Beijing is not bound to monitor water levels and is not responsible for ensuring that downstream rivers are provided with enough water to maintain its economic activity, agriculture and aquatic life. India accounts for roughly 17 per cent of the global population but has access to just 4 per cent of its fresh water resources, according to data published by the Stockholm International Water Institute and the World Bank. Australia's Lowy Institute in 2020 reported that Beijing's 'control over these rivers [in the Tibetan Plateau] effectively gives China a chokehold on India's economy', while the Parley Policy Initiative's special adviser for South Asia, Neeraj Singh Manhas, told a BBC podcast in January that China 'can always weaponise this water in terms of blocking it or diverting it'. A reliable water supply is also vital for India's plans to rapidly expand its coal power plants in the coming years as the world's most populous nation looks to develop its industry. 'Water wars are a key component of warfare... (these dams) allow China to leverage its upstream Tibet-centred power over the most essential natural resource,' political scientist Brahma Chellaney wrote in the Times of India. Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, also pointed out that the Tibetan Plateau, through which the Yarlung Zangpo river flows, experiences high levels of seismic activity. Damming the river could increase the risk of natural disasters, creating a 'ticking water bomb', he said. New Delhi's protest at China's construction project comes just months after India also threatened to demonstrate the strategic power of water as a weapon of war. In the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack in April that sparked a brief armed conflict between India and Pakistan, New Delhi suspended its participation in the Indus Waters Treaty, which obliges India to allow water to flow into Pakistan from the Indus River - a lifeline for Pakistan's agriculture and economy. Dr Manali Kumar, an expert in Indian foreign policy at the University of St. Gallen, told MailOnline the move carried 'immense risks' and was perceived by Pakistan as an 'existential threat'. 'This also sets a dangerous precedent for the weaponisation of shared resources, raising alarms among India's other neighbours who will be watching how this develops very carefully,' Dr Kumar warned. China's new dam and India's suspension of the Indus Water Treaty are just the latest examples of the myriad ways in which controlling the flow of the world's most vital resource can be used as an instrument of leverage in foreign policy, or a tool of war. The Pacific Institute reported global water-related violence surged by more than 50 per cent in 2023 alone, as states and non-state actors alike realise the leverage water offers. Despite this, international institutions still largely view water as a development or environmental issue rather than a national security flashpoint, and there is no robust legal framework that clearly classifies the manipulation of water flows to coerce nations or harm civilians as a war crime. Advocates argue that the deliberate weaponisation of water must carry real consequences - from international sanctions to legal prosecutions and reparations - to prevent it from becoming a mechanism of modern conflicts. In the meantime, previous Chinese megadam construction projects have proven devastating for local populations and aquatic biodiversity. The Three Gorges Dam, finished in 2012 on the Yangtze River, created a huge man-made reservoir and displaced 1.4 million inhabitants upstream. Tempa Gyaltsen Zamlha, an environmental policy specialist at the Tibet Policy Institute, a think tank linked to the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamshala, India, said the same consequences would be felt around Yarlung Zangpo. 'We have a very rich Tibetan cultural heritage in those areas, and any dam construction would cause ecological destruction, submergence of parts of that region. 'Many local residents would be forced to leave their ancestral homes,' he said, adding that the project will encourage migration of Han Chinese workers that 'gradually becomes a permanent settlement'. 'Building a dam the size of the super-dam is likely a really bad idea for many reasons,' said Brian Eyler, energy, water and sustainability program director at the Stimson Center, a US think tank. The dam would block the migration of fish as well as sediment flow that enriches the soil during seasonal floods downstream, said Eyler.
