China plays down its plan of building dam over Brahmaputra river

China played down the plan of dam construction in the lower extensions of Brahmaputra river lying in Tibet and iterated about no need for having any anxiety regarding the project operations. Beijing, along the same lines, will continue to have regular communication with India and Bangladesh.

Yan Zhiyong, chairman of the Power Construction Corp of China, announced China’s plan of creating a dam over Brahmaputra river, supposedly at Megdog in Tibet, which is in the vicinity of Arunanhal Pradesh at a conferenced conducted recently.

According to Global Times, Yan said, China will “implement hydropower exploitation in the downstream of the Yarlung Zangbo River (the Tibetan name for Brahmaputra) and the project could serve to maintain water resources and domestic security.”

Regarding the question of construction of dam near the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Hua Chunying, Chinese Foreign Minisry Spokesperson, answered to the reporters on Thursday that the “hydropower development in the lower reaches of Yarlung Zangbo river is China’s legitimate right. When it comes to use and development of cross border rivers, China always acts responsibly.”

Hua further recealed, “We have a policy featuring development and conservation and all projects will go through science-based planning and assessment giving full consideration to impact downstream and accommodating the interests of upstream and downstream regions.”

When asked aboit China’s future course for the project with the two countries, Hua said, “Actually, for a long time the three countries – China, India and Bangladesh – have been in close communication on sharing hydrological information, flood prevention and disaster reduction and contingency management.”

Hua further added, “Going forward China, India, Bangladesh and other concerned countries will continue to have good communication. There is no need for any anxiety on this matter.”

It was in 2006 that India and China set up Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) for holding discussions on the matters pertaining to trans-border rivers.

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