Infrastructural Construction

2004-10-27

In an effort to speed economic construction in Tibet, the State decided to strengthen construction of infrastructure projects during the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1991-1995) and the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1996-2000):

Development of the middle reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo, Lhasa and Nyangqu rivers;
Expansion of Lhasa's Gonggar Airport and Qamdo's Bamda Airport;
Repair and renovation of the Sichuan-Tibet, Qinghai-Tablet, Sino-Nepalese, Nagqu-Qamdo, Zetang-Gonggar highways;
Construction of the Yamzhog Yumco Pumper Storage Power Station;
Construction of the Chalong Power Station in Nagqu; and
Construction of the Norbusa Chromite Mine.

Total investment in these and other key large and medium-sized projects covered in the plans is more than 5 billion yuan. Several of these projects, including the Bamda Airport expansion and the Norbusa Chromite Mine, have already been completed. When the remainder have also been completed the Tibetan infrastructure will be greatly improved. Investment for the Yamzhog Yumco Pump Storage Power Station, with an installed generating capacity of 90,000 kilowatts, reached 2.014 billion yuan. The power station went into operation in July 1997. With an annual generating capacity of 81.4527 million kwh, the power station helps ease the tense supply of power in Tibet.