Beijing, Aug. 2 -- China has begun construction on what it claims will be the world's largest hydropower project, the Motuo Hydropower Station, deep in the politically sensitive region of Tibet. Costing an estimated USD 170 billion and projected to generate 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually (roughly the amount consumed by the UK in a year), the dam is raising serious alarm across South Asia.

According to The Institute for Energy Research (IER), the Motuo project will consist of five cascade hydropower stations in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River, which becomes the Brahmaputra once it crosses into India and then Bangladesh. This gives Beijing direct control over a vital transboundary river that supports milli...