China’s dam project near Arunachal Pradesh jeopardised by unstable glacial lake

A glacial lake formed by a landslide on the Yarlung Zangbo River in Tibet is proving to be an obstacle for China’s mission to build a major hydropower plant on the river’s lower reaches close to the border with the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Last month, the central government in China had given its go-ahead to the construction of a dam and hydropower plant on the lower reaches of the river in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). The mission had been included in the country’s 14th five-year plan.

The hydropower project is expected to have an electricity generation capacity of 70 gigawatts, which is nearly three times that of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River.