The first improvements to the only highway to Mount Qomolangma (Mount Everest), the world's highest peak, have been completed, said a senior official of China's Tibetan Autonomous Region.

The work, the first since the road to the mountain's Base Camp was built in 1978, evened the road surface and widened both the road base and the bends fenced by guardrails, said regional vice chairman Hao Peng.

"Driving used to be very dangerous on a mountain road with more than 170 degree curves, but that's in the past now," said Hao.

With a length of 110 km and a 3.5-meter-wide road surface, the highway starts from the national highway 318 inside Tingri, Xigaze Prefecture, and ends at Rongpu Monastery near the Base Camp at the foot of the mountain.

Hao said the regional government planned a second stage of improvements in which the sand and stone road would be sealed with asphalt.

"But the plan is subject to a feasibility study and environment assessment before it is approved by the central government. That will probably take a pretty long time," said Hao.

Hao reiterated a denial that the regional government planned to build other tourist facilities, such as hotels, at the Base Camp and denied that a whole new road was planned on the mountain.

Ciduo, a Tibetan tourist bus driver said that the repairs had cut bus travel times in half from the previous average of four hours.

Gama, chief of the administration for Mount Qomolangma State-Level Nature Reserve, said that these improvements would help protect and preserve the vulnerable plateau ecosystem.

"Before the repairs, the road surface was bumpy and unsafe, many drivers shunned the highway and would drive their vehicles off road, which destroyed local vegetation," said Gama. "I hope all drivers will now choose to drive on the highway.”

Organizers of the Beijing Olympic Games have ambitious plans for the longest torch relay in Olympic history -- a 137,000-km, 130-day route that would cross five continents and scale Mount Qomolangma, which straddles the border between China and Nepal.

Around 320,000 tourists had visited the Base Camp area as of Sept.18 of this year.

(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2007)