The projects to restore the Potala Palace, Sayga Monastery and Norbulinka are expected to take three to five years and are intended to tackle all the problems at the root.

Special expertise and funds have been allocated to maintain buildings that are listed as World Cultural Heritage sites by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Since the 1980s, the central government has granted more than 300 million yuan (US$36 million) together with large amounts of gold and silver to Tibet for this purpose.

The Tibetan regional government has also launched a renovation program for old districts in Lhasa with the help of the central government.

The program is planned to improve residential house conditions in these districts while safeguarding Johkang Monastery, a listed World Cultural Heritage site.

A member of the monastery management committee, Nyi'ma Ceing, said the wooden building was in a stable condition thanks to the government's constant protection works.

Guo Bao, a specialist in relics protection, said the ancient buildings featured stone and wood structures with trapezium walls, which were easily attacked by silverfish and erosion.

The ongoing renovation program involved 56 residential courtyards, four of them on the city's protection list, said Guo. The restoration work would retain the original Tibetan style.

Meanwhile, modern structures around the monastery that may be fire hazards to the ancient building would be demolished in accordance with proposals put forward by UNESCO, Guo said.

In the wake of increasing threats to heritage sites, the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage was passed by the 17th assembly of UNESCO in Paris in 1972.

China has vowed to make heritage protection as priority since it became a member of the convention in 1989.

The government also established regulations for better protection work.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2002)