Upper Siang Project

About

- The Upper Siang project is a proposed 11,000 megawatt hydropower project on the Siang river in the Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh.

The project would entail the construction of a 300-metre high dam. This dam would be the largest in the subcontinent, when completed.

The Upper Siang Project was proposed in 2017 to combine the previously planned Siang Upper Stage-I and Siang Upper Stage-II hydel projects.
To be built by: National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC)

NHPC:

NHPC Limited is the largest hydropower development organization in India. It undertakes all the activities from conceptualization to commissioning of hydro projects.
NHPC has also diversified in the field of Solar & Wind energy development etc.
The company is mandated to plan, promote and organize an integrated and efficient development of power in all its aspects through Conventional and Non-Conventional Sources in India and abroad.

- The dam is also being projected as a strategic imperative to counter China’s hydel projects on the Tsangpo.

- Activists are concerned that the proposed Siang mega dam threatens Arunachal Pradesh’s ancestral abode that hosts delicate ecosystems, wildlife habitats, and biodiversity.
- The project might submerge more than 300 villages belonging to the Adi tribe. This may result in these communities getting displaced.

Siang River

Origin: Near Mount Kailash in Tibet, where it goes by the name of Tsangpo.
It traverses more than 1,000 km eastward, before forming a horseshoe bend around the towering Namcha Barwa peak, and enters Arunachal Pradesh as the Siang.
Further downstream, in Assam, the river is called Brahmaputra.
According to a 2022 report by the Central Electrical Authority, there are 29 hydroelectric projects (installed capacity of over 25 MW) in the Siang river basin.

Why in news?

Sources

Today Current Affairs Upsc Exam Syllabus & Previous Yearpaper.