Bangladesh is trying to get “sufficient” information about the construction of eight hydroelectric dams by China upstream of the Brahmaputra River.
"We are trying to collect sufficient information,” foreign ministry spokesperson Seheli Sabrin said at a weekly briefing on Thursday when asked whether Bangladesh had reached out to China regarding speculations that there would not be an equitable distribution of water because of those dams, leading to suffering for Bangladesh.
“We will inform you later once we get sufficient information,” she said.
When asked if there were any talks about signing an agreement with China on the water issue, the spokesperson said: “No; no talks have started on this issue.”
Earlier, media reports on China's major hydropower project on the Brahmaputra River (Yarlung Zangbo River) in Tibet raised concerns in India and Bangladesh as the river also flows through the countries.
China, an upper riparian nation, has built roughly eight hydroelectric power projects (HPPs) on the lower levels of the Brahmaputra. Some of them are currently operational, others are being built and one mega dam is being considered, according to the Daily Mirror.
