China to build more highways, rail lines, airports in Tibet

China has unveiled plans to build more highways and airports in Tibet by 2020 to make travel to the "roof of the world" a lot easier with projects underway to construct a rail network to connect places along the borders with India, Nepal and Bhutan.

The plans include 1,10,000 kms of highways and 1,300 kms of railways, China's Ministry of Transport said.

The plan is to complete a primary network of railways by then with 1,300 kilometers of railway in operation, it said adding that the country will also build more airports in Tibet in addition to the six existing ones.

The rail line connecting Tibet's provincial capital Lhasa with Xigaze (also known as Shigatse) close to the Indian border in Sikkim as well as Nepal and Bhutan which is currently under trials would become operational next month.

Another new line connecting Lhasa to Nyingchi in the east is also expected to start construction soon. Nyingchi is located right on top of Arunachal Pradesh.

The railway expansion will connect Nepal, Bhutan and India by 2020, state-run Global Times reported.

Yang Yulin, deputy director of the railway office of Tibet said that during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) period, the construction of a railway connecting Shigatse with Gyirong county, which has a checkpoint connecting Nepal and with Yatung county, (close to Indian border near Sikkim and Bhutan) a trade centre bordering India and Bhutan, will start.

Building roads connecting rural areas has become the policy focus.

The authorities plan to make sure that by 2020, every village in Tibet has at least one road connecting with the outside, state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Tibet has received about 83 billion yuan (USD 13 billion) in transport investment during the last 20 years.

In ancient times, it usually took months even years for people living in the country's middle and eastern regions to get to Tibet.

Although airlines, railways and expressways have made travels to Tibet much more convenient, the transport infrastructures in the autonomous region are still outdated, the report said.