"China’s building spree in Nepal casts shadow over Himalayan ecosystem", 31 December 2021

• China’s role in Nepal has intensified in the period since the 2015 earthquake, mostly in the form of investments in rebuilding projects. In 2019 alone, China initiated a series of projects, including factories and hydropower plants, worth $2.4 billion in Nepal.
• Many of the infrastructure projects run through sensitive environments, including national parks, and the construction of hydropower plants has been criticized by environmental organizations and local communities for destroying river ecosystems.
• For example, work on the Rasuwagadhi hydroelectric project, part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, resumed in 2016, despite protests from locals who blamed the dam for mass fish deaths.

[...]

Basnet says infrastructure projects, particularly road building, will boost development in Nepal by creating jobs and lowering transportation costs and travel time. Many parts of the Terai, the lowland region of southern Nepal, have already seen construction projects benefit local economies. But in the country’s less-developed Himalayan region, where tourism and traditional livelihoods such as yak grazing and small-scale farming are the dominant economic drivers, many worry the environmental and social costs will be too high. They warn that infrastructure projects will pay little consideration to fragile alpine ecosystems, and that carving up the land for roads and tunnels could exacerbate landslides caused by the yearly monsoon. [...]

Further up the gravel road from Syabrubesi, and closer to the Chinese border, lies the village of Timure. Since the 2015 earthquake razed the area, the rebuilding, with Chinese assistance, has gone remarkably quickly. Semi-finished hotels and restaurants, made of concrete and wood, dot the side of the road. Prior to the pandemic, the area was buzzing with foreign tourists, Nepali truck drivers, Chinese businessmen, and officials. Work on the Rasuwagadhi hydroelectric project, part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, resumed here in 2016, despite protests from locals who blamed the dam for mass fish deaths. [...]