Now that the world's highest railway connecting Tibet to the rest of China is in operation, the
autonomous region plans to build a highway linking its "elusive
lotus" in the Himalayas, say local officials.
At Tibet's border with India, nestled among snow-capped
mountains is the county of Medog, which is the last of the
country's 2,100 counties to be connected by highway.
That could soon change as a new road, as complicated to build as
the new railway, has been put on the agenda of China's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010).
A team of experts from the Ministry of Communications (MOC)
conducted a feasibility study in June and has submitted plans for
the road that will be studied by the MOC in October in Beijing.
The central government has been considering building the highway
in Medog since 1975, said MOC officials.
The highway poses a number of engineering challenges as Medog
sits on the Himalayan fault line where there are many earthquakes
and landslides, said Guo Xiancheng, a senior engineer involved in
the feasibility study.
Construction costs are estimated to be 700 million yuan (US$87.5
million), but details of the highway's length and construction
schedule have not been disclosed by the MOC.
According to the construction plan, a 141-km-long barely
passable, pot-hole filled road that now connects Medog to the
nearby Bomi will be upgraded to meet the standards of a
highway.
If geologic conditions permit, a tunnel will be considered to
shorten the distance.
Xu Xiaozhu, deputy head of Medog, believes the huge investment
will pay off as the county remains one of the country's most
expensive destinations due to its inaccessibility.
In sparsely populated Medog, which has fewer than 10,000
inhabitants, high transportation costs mean a chicken sells for 120
yuan (US$15), five times more than inland China. The average annual
income was 1,075 yuan (US$134) in 2005.
The agrarian county was a planned economy until the end of the
1990s. Even now, each person has a quota of 18 kilograms of grain
and one kilogram of oil each month.
Most of materials and goods are brought into the county on the
backs of porters on two narrow paths that snake over snowcapped
mountains. The hard journey takes four days and porters risk their
lives if they get caught in a blizzard in winter or hit by falling
rocks in summer.
Although some local people worry that the opening of the highway
would dilute the local Buddhist culture and cause social problems,
Xu Xiaozhu stressed that economic development remains the top
priority for underdeveloped Medog.
Lahmo, a local tourism official, said the highway will boost
transportation of commodities and more importantly tourism, which
boasts the cleanest air and most breathtaking scenery.
He also hopes the highway will allow investors to tap the rich
water resources from Brahmaputra canyon which, he says, is the
world's largest.
(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2006)
