Beijing:
China has greenlit the construction of what is set to become the world’s largest hydropower dam, marking the beginning of a monumental project on the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau. This development has the potential to impact millions of people downstream in India and Bangladesh.

The dam, planned for the lower stretches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, is projected to generate an estimated 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, according to a 2020 estimate by the Power Construction Corp of China.

This output would surpass the designed capacity of the Three Gorges Dam, currently the world’s largest, by over threefold. The Three Gorges Dam, located in central China, has a capacity of 88.2 billion kWh.

The project is expected to play a pivotal role in advancing China's goals of carbon peaking and achieving carbon neutrality. Additionally, it will stimulate related industries such as engineering and create employment opportunities in Tibet, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.