New Delhi, Sep 11 - India Friday protested against the proposed 7,000 MW Bunji hydroelectric project being built in the Pakistan-administered Kashmir with Chinese assistance.

'The government of India lodged a protest against the construction of (the) project located in a part of Jammu and Kashmir under the illegal occupation of Pakistan,' external affairs ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash told reporters here.

The ministry lodged the protest with Pakistan's deputy high commissioner Riffat Masood here, officials said. India's high commission in Islamabad will also lodge a formal protest with Pakistan's foreign office soon.

Pakistan and China signed a memorandum of understanding in August for the construction of a dam at Bunji in Astore district in Gilgit-Baltistan, earlier known as the Northern Areas, during President Asif Ali Zardari's Beijing visit.

Earlier, New Delhi had also protested against the construction of the Neelam Jhelum hydropower project and Bhasa dam in what it calls Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, which is referred to as 'Azaad Kashmir' by Islamabad.