It was
in 2007, when media reports appeared for the first time, about
possible Chinese plans, to build 5 dams on the river Brahmaputra in
Tibet. As per Chinese practice, the Government of China immediately
issued a statement and denied any such intention. Avid China watchers
had then warned the Government of India that if Chinese Government is
issuing prompt denials, it must be seriously considering the plan.
Even during 2010, when this matter come up at the time of the visit
of Chinese President Hu Jintao to India, Chinese authorities were
quick in rejecting the news as a baseless rumour to quell Indian
public fears and sentiments. China’s Minister for Water Resources,
Wang Shucheng, said the proposal was “unnecessary, unfeasible and
unscientific, and had no government backing.” The China Daily
reported, Wang Shucheng even saying that “There is no need for such
dramatic and unscientific projects”. Later, Chinese Foreign
Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said (according to the China Daily)
that “The Chinese government has no plans to build a dam on the
Yarlung Zangbo River”.
In
spite of these denials, details started leaking out in the Chinese
press about construction of first such dam on Brahmaputra. With high
quality satellite imagery available to Internet users, it became
impossible even for a secretive Chinese government to hide such a
project from internet users and when images of the first dam
construction were published on the internet, Chinese government had
to accept this fact. The first dam on the Brahmaputra river is coming
up at Zangmu (Tibetan name Dzam) having 92.522996 and 29.141999 as
longitude and latitude. One of China’s biggest engineering and
construction companies, China Gezhouba (Group) Corp, was awarded a
contract worth 1.14 billion yuan ($167 million) for a hydropower
plant here.
After
two year suspension period, China gave go-ahead for three new
hydropower dams on the Brahmputra in 2013. It also clarified to India
that all these dams were -run of the river projects- meaning thereby
that the projects will not affect downstream water flows at all.
However the main concern for India- all these years- has been total
lack of transparency from Chinese side on this subject.
Another
concern from India's point of view was non availability of any
hydrological data from upper reaches of Brahmaputra. In 2013, China
and India signed an agreement to cooperate on trans-boundary rivers
but no details were worked out. In the past, Chinese have been always
suspicious and sensitive about allowing access to Tibet, and no
Indian hydrological experts have ever been allowed to formally visit
the region to monitor the river’s flows. This added to the mystery
about Brahmaputra water flows.
It
seems that a change is on the way. A new agreement was signed in
Beijing on 29th
June 2014, during the visit of India's Vice-President Hamid Ansari to
China. According to this agreement, China will provide data on water
flows in Brahmaputra, from May 15 to October 15 every year on a
daily basis, adding 15 days to an earlier agreement. The data will be
provided by three stations at Nugesha, Yangcun and Nuxia in Tibet, on
the main stream of the river. Technical details such as the data
transmission method, frequency and cost settlement have been worked
out. While China will provide data on water flows, India will make
available information on data utilisation in flood forecasting and
mitigation.
Perhaps
even more important is the fact that China has for the first time,
formally agreed to allow Indian hydrological experts to conduct study
tours in Tibet to monitor the flows on the upper reaches of the
Brahmaputra. This step is a great move forward because it directly
addresses India’s concerns about the ongoing dam projects on the
upper reaches of the river with Beijing formally agreeing to allow
such study tours according to the principle of reciprocity.
Brahmaputra
remains an important river for India with millions of farmers
depending upon it. Every year, large areas in Assam state of India are
devastated by floods on this mighty river. With the hydrological data
available from China on daily basis, it will result in better flood
forecasting. Besides that, direct visits of Indian hydrologists to
the dam sites on the upper reaches of this river will definitely help
in reducing India's fears and suspicions that Chinese would not be
diverting Brahmaputra waters and would make all Chinese efforts to
tame the river absolutely transparent. The mighty Brahmaputra is
being demystified finally.
2nd
July 2014
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