Saturday, January 2, 2021

"Himalayan dams become economic burdens"

Everybody wants that water and it seems they are willing to fight over it.

This article admonishes India which being a democracy must at least pretend to care but China doesn't listen to outside criticism and doesn't even have to pretend.

From The Third Pole:

Spiralling costs, long delays, earthquakes and landslide risks plague developers trying to build hydropower projects in the Indian Himalayan states

On April 23, 2020, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of India’s environment ministry met to deliberate the 3,097-megawatt Etalin hydropower project in the north-east state of Arunachal Pradesh.

The proposed dam is a joint venture between private company Jindal Power Ltd (JPL) and the Hydro Power Development Corporation of Arunachal Pradesh Ltd, a public sector undertaking.

The minutes of the meeting show that the FAC did not to decide whether to approve the project but sought views from the Ministry of Power (MoP) with respect to three issues: the six-year delay to the project and change in the country’s energy plans during this time; the high tariff structure; and prioritising proposed hydro projects based on their adverse impacts on ecology.

The Etalin hydropower project in Dibang Valley is one of over 160 dam projects planned in Arunachal Pradesh. It has attracted particular controversy over its impacts on wildlife and indigenous communities in the dense forests of north-east India.

Concerns about time and cost overruns are not unique to the Etalin dam. These issues are common in hydropower projects, particularly in the Himalayan states of Uttarakhand, Himachal PradeshArunachal PradeshAssam, Sikkim, Jammu and Kashmir, and West Bengal.

According to the Central Electricity Authority’s (CEA) latest quarterly review (covering January-March 2020), many large hydropower projects under construction in these states have cost overruns as high as 200% and delays of up to 13 years.

....MUCH MORE 

Also at The Third Pole:

Bangladesh turns to China to transform Teesta river 

With activists silenced, China moves ahead on big dam project

Previously: 

"China eyes its next prize – the Mekong"

"China’s plans for gigantic Brahmaputra dam strains relations with India further" 

"China Eyes Hydropower Projects Around The World"