darren: unbelievable. how many workers did they say are working this? anthony: 40,000. anthony: 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. darren: amazing, huh? anthony: so where are we? what is this place? nawang: this is the punatsangchhu hydropower dam. so this is one of the biggest hydropower dams in bhutan. it s about 1,200 megawatts. anthony: how much is that? how much darren: that s a lot of refrigerators. i heard there s going to be a second nawang: second dam further down. darren: so they re going to capture power twice. nawang: if you have already destroyed one river, you might as well keep building. anthony: get the most out of it. nawang: get the most out of it. anthony: doctor nawang norbu is the director of the school for field studies bhutan program. darren: and what country is building this? nawang: it s mostly india. darren: do the indians build it and then get the power to pay it? nawang: they get the power. we sell it to them, and then we sort of liquidate the loans
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. darren: amazing, huh? anthony: so where are we? what is this place? nawang: this is the punatsangchhu hydropower dam. so this is one of the biggest hydropower dams in bhutan. it s about 1,200 megawatts. anthony: how much is that? how much darren: that s a lot of refrigerators. i heard there s going to be a second nawang: second dam further down. darren: so they re going to capture power twice. nawang: if you have already destroyed one river, you might as well keep building. anthony: get the most out of it. nawang: get the most out of it. anthony: doctor nawang norbu is the director of the school for field studies bhutan program. darren: and what country is building this? nawang: it s mostly india.
The road is undergoing a major expansion, with plans to have it fully paved by, well, soon. anthony: just carving this out of the mountain. darren: unbelievable. how many workers did they say are working this? anthony: 40,000. anthony: 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. darren: amazing, huh? anthony: so where are we? what is this place? nawang: this is the punatsangchhu hydropower dam. so this is one of the biggest hydropower dams in bhutan. it s about 1,200 megawatts. anthony: how much is that? how much darren: that s a lot of refrigerators. i heard there s going to be a second nawang: second dam further down. darren: so they re going to capture power twice. nawang: if you have already destroyed one river, you might as well keep building. anthony: get the most out of it. nawang: get the most out of it. anthony: doctor nawang norbu is the director of the school for field studies bhutan program.