China denies building dam on Brahmaputra; NRSA’s evidence suggests otherwise

New Delhi: Though India’s National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) has confirmed that China had started building a dam at the Zangmu site on the river Brahmaputra, China has reportedly denied that it was doing anything on the Brahmaputra.

At a presentation made before the Committee of Secretaries, the NRSA presented “concrete evidence” that suggests construction activities, excavations and movements of trucks in and around the Zangmu site.

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said here that India has taken up the issue with China on a number of occasions, but China has consistently denied engaging in any construction activity on the Brahmaputra.

She added that the question of dam has not strained India’s relations with China.

The Brahmaputra, according to Nirupama Rao, has now become a permanent subject on the agenda of the talks between India and China. India has taken up the issue of the dam with China several times, and China has time and again denied that any dam was being built, she said.

With data from the National Remote Sensing Agency revealing construction activity by China, the government of India has decided to seek clarification from China on the matter.

The official media of China has reported that China will build 5 dams in the “middle reaches” of the river Brahmaputra (Yarlung-Tsangpo) for hydro-power projects and that they are scheduled to be completed by 2015.

The Chinese report went on to say that Huaneng, the top electricity-generating company in China, was financing the project. Gezhouba, one of the largest dam-construction firms in China, is in charge of building the project.

According to other reports, China is expected to approve more dam-building projects on the river Brahmaputra soon, with the Zangmu hydro-power project the first one to be constructed. This is to be followed by 5 other dams on the Brahmaputra – Guoduo, Dhongzhong, Ruxi, Linchang, and Xiangda.

According to experts in India, while these dam projects have small reservoirs and that China has a right to build them – it being an upper riparian state – what Indian should worry about is that China’s strategists have proposed that the Brahmaputra be “diverted” to meet the water needs of its arid north-eastern region.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had recently “reassured” the Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam saying that he was “convinced” that China was not constructing dams on the Brahmaputra.

The matter also had come up at the meeting between Manmohan Singh and China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao held on the sidelines of the ASEAN-India and East Asia Summit in Thailand in October 2009.

It may be noted that China did not inform Pakistan when it constructed a big dam on the river Indus in Senge-Ali. Pakistan knew about China’s dam in Senge-Ali only after a book presented details of the dam.

India fears that the dam China is reportedly building, aimed at generating 540 megawatts of electricity, will result in water being denied to India.

There is no bilateral treaty in place between India and China regarding trans-boundary rivers.

According to experts, the river Brahmaputra enters India from Tibet with 71.5 BCM of water. Out of this, China is reportedly planning to divert 40 BCM of water for its needs.

The fact that the Brahmaputra has a runoff of 550 BCM of water, on an average, when it reaches Bangladesh shows that the river is being fed by its tributaries after it enters India.