Guwahati, July 20 -- China officially commenced construction on Saturday of a colossal $167.8 billion dam project on the Yarlung Zangbo river in Tibet, near the Indian border with Arunachal Pradesh, reports said.

This river is known as the Siang in Arunachal Pradesh and the Brahmaputra in Assam, India.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang marked the initiation of the dam's construction at a groundbreaking ceremony held in the lower reaches of the river, in Nyingchi City, according to official media reports.

The ceremony took place at the dam site of Nyingchi's Mainling hydropower station within the Tibet Autonomous Region, as reported by the state-run Xinhua news agency.

This hydropower project, touted as the largest infrastructure undertaking gl...