China is making efforts to protect the ecological environment in
the area where the
Qinghai-
Tibet Railway is under construction, a scholar on the
Qinghai-Tibet Plateau said over the weekend.
The foundation of the railway, being built on the world’s highest
plateau, will be elevated to protect the frozen soil layer, and
special areas will be designated for the free movement of wild
animals, said Zheng Du, an academician of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences.
Zheng, who is attending the annual academic meeting of the China
Association for Science and Technology in Changchun, capital of
northeast China’s Jilin
Province, said that the frozen soil layer can be well protected as
long as the foundation of the railway is 100 to 120 centimeters
deep.
In
order to protect the plants, slopes alongside the rail bed will be
planted with grass, and damage to the surface vegetation will be
minimized, said Zheng, who visited the construction site last
month.
In
addition, waste release along the railway will be strictly
controlled according to regulations.
The 1,956-km railway, the first linking Tibet with the rest of
China, will extend from Lhasa in Tibet to Xining, capital city of
Qinghai Province in northwest China. It will be the highest railway
in the world.
More than 960 km, or over four-fifths of the railway will be built
at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters above sea level, and over
half of it will be laid on frozen earth.
(People’s
Daily 09/16/2001)