China‘s Tibet Autonomous Region has speeded up its urban planning and construction in the 1996-2000 period， bringing sweeping changes to its cities and towns.
Official statistics show that Tibet currently has two cities at the prefecture level， 71 county seats and 112 towns， with a total urban population of 420，000.
The region‘s urbanization level has risen to 9.8 percent. Its completed urban areas cover 147 sq km.
During the 1996-2000 period， Tibet has further accelerated construction of urban infrastructure. As a result， the tap water supply capacity of urban areas now stands at 320，000 cubic meters per day， with the tap water availability rate hitting 60 percent. Liquefied petroleum gas is available to 230，000 urban residents.
With completion of a number of power stations， Tibet has a combined generating capacity of 340,000 kw. Telephone switchboards in the region have a total of 580,000 lines.
(Xinhua 12/01/2000)
