| In January 2007, the Central Government officially approved the Scheme on the Items in the "Five-Year (2006-2010) Plan" of Tibet Autonomous Region, making an investment of 77.88 billion Yuan for the construction of 180 projects. If all the items were completed, the total investment would surpass 100 billion Yuan. The main origins of the investment include: 38.2 billion Yuan of central-budgeted investment or national debt investment, 14.4 billion Yuan of car-purchase tax, 2.5 billion Yuan for railway construction funds and 1.6 billion Yuan for civil aviation construction funds and 2.86 billion Yuan from the Central Government or other departments, totaling 59.56 billion Yuan. In addition, 17.76 billion Yuan will be invested for the large telecom, electric power and post enterprises directly under the Central Government.
Of the 180 items, the Central Government is handling 33 projects for improving the production and living conditions of farmers and herders, including seed projects, an artificial fodder and grass seed breeding base, the supportive system of weather science and technology for preventing and reducing disasters of the farming and animal husbandry industries, the security project concerning drinking water in rural areas, the power construction in the area without electricity, the hydropower station in counties and towns, and characteristic industrial production base of farming and animal husband industries, with a total investment of 21.9 billion Yuan.
The second kind is infrastructure construction on aspects of traffic, energy resources, irrigation works and communications, including the extension of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway from Lhasa to Xigaze, the reconstruction of Qinghai-Tibet, Sichuan-Tibet, Yunnan-Tibet, Xinjiang-Tibet and China-Nepal trunk roads, the construction of inter-county roads, frontier defense and roads to ports, the building of Ngari Shiquanhe Airport, the reconstruction and extension of Qamdo Bangda Airport, Xigaze Peace Airport and Lhasa Konggar Airport. Another 60 projects such as several hydropower stations and Ngari Grid-connected PV power station will also gain an investment of 67.96 billion Yuan.
The third kind refers to the social undertaking construction regarding education, health, science and technology and culture and eco-environment protection projects, including 56 projects such as the protection of the key cultural relics, the radio and TV broadcasting coverage to each village, the protection of natural forest resources, withdrawing from herding and returning grass to the natural plain, the conversion of cropland to forest, forestation in Lhasa and its surrounding areas, sand prevention and control in southeast Tibet, disposal facilities for medical and dangerous wastes, the sewage-treatment equipment, facilities for collecting and treating garbage, with a total investment of 12.29 billion Yuan.
Tibetan work loading walnut oil produced in Tibet. Products like this are sent to inland markets of China by the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
In addition, the scheme also comes down to social construction projects on many aspects. According to the plan, Tibet will work to completely popularize nine-year compulsory education, realize an enrolment rate of over 60 percent in high school, basically solve the security issue concerning drinking water of people and domestic animals and realize road access of 80 percent administrative villages by 2010. |
