Tibet will invest 300 million yuan (US$37.5
million) in the next five years to improve housing conditions of
25,000 households of farmers and herdsmen at its border areas.
The investment will be used to transform current clay or wooden
houses into structures of both stone and wood, to make them more
durable and comfortable, said Guo Jian, an official with the
autonomous region's Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee.
With a population of about 360,000, 21 counties and 110 towns in
southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, are located near the
frontier areas bordering such countries as India, Myanmar and
Nepal.
In the past five years, the central and regional governments
have invested more than 100 million yuan (US$12.5 million) in some
380 projects to improve education, traffic and medical conditions
for people in those remote counties and ethnic minority groups with
small populations in the region.
Statistics from the State Development and Reform Commission show
that the central government earmarked about 15.9 billion yuan
(US$1.9 billion) to boost the development of ethnic minority groups
regions in 2005, which is more than doubled that of 2004.
The central government will continue to increase its investment
for those regions in the coming years to promote rapid development
of them, said Wang Jinxiang, deputy director of the commission.
(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2006)