India plans mega-dam in Arunachal amid water rivalry with China

India is moving ahead with plans to build its largest-ever dam in Arunachal Pradesh, a project officials say is vital to counter China’s massive hydropower development upstream in Tibet.

Blueprints under study propose a 280-metre (918-foot) high structure capable of storing water equal to four million Olympic swimming pools. The dam would sit on the Siang River, which flows into India from Tibet, where China is pushing ahead with its $167 billion Yaxia project — a mega-scheme expected to generate three times the electricity of the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydropower station.

New Delhi argues its proposed dam is necessary to safeguard India from the risks of “weaponised” water releases and to ensure long-term water security. But on the ground in Arunachal, the project is being met with fierce resistance.

In Riew village, members of the Adi tribe staged protests, accusing the government of threatening their survival.

“We will fight till our last breath,” AFP quoted Tapir Jamoh, a villager who raised a bow tipped with poison in defiance, as saying. “We will never allow this dam to be built.”

The Adi people, whose ancestral lands stretch across India’s northeast bordering Tibet and Myanmar, say the project will displace communities, submerge farmland, and destroy their cultural identity.

Environmental groups have also raised alarms about the scale of the project, warning it could devastate fragile Himalayan ecosystems already at risk from climate change.

As per AFP, officials in New Delhi counter that the project is critical as a strategic response to Beijing’s construction frenzy on the Yarlung Tsangpo, as the Siang is known in Tibet. China’s plans include five hydropower plants along the river, though few details have been made public.

The proposed Indian dam remains at a planning stage, with surveys ongoing. But officials insist it will move forward despite opposition, describing it as both a security measure and an energy lifeline.

“This is about safeguarding our national interest,” one government official told AFP. “We cannot afford to let China control the flow of the Siang.”