East-west highway was the only road in bhutan. bisecting the country, it twists through some pretty gnarly mountain passes with at times crumbly cliff face on one side. wow. and a harrowing freaking drop-off on the other. the road is undergoing a major expansion, with plans to have it fully paved by well, soon. just carving this out of the side of the mountain. unbelievable. how many workers they say work here? 40,000. respect for the natural world is fundamental to bhutan s spiritual identity. more than half the country is off limits to development or timbering. a whopping 50% of bhutan s gdp comes from hydropower. amazing, huh? so where are we? what is this place? this is the punatsangcchu hydropower dam. so this is one of the biggest hydropower dams in bhutan. it s about 1,200 megawatts. how much is that?
Developing nations in the Mekong have long had to choose between cheap, accessible power and sustainable river management. That may no longer be necessary.Developing countries