Xizang's highways drive socioeconomic progress

Transportation authorities of the Xizang autonomous region said on Wednesday that significant socioeconomic progress has been made since the opening of the Qinghai-Xizang Highway and the Sichuan-Xizang Highway in 1954.

"These two highways have long been recognized as the economic arteries of Xizang, shouldering over 90 percent of the freight responsibilities for goods entering and exiting the region," said Dawa Ngodrub, deputy head of the Xizang autonomous region's transportation department, at a news conference in the regional capital Lhasa.

Dawa Ngodrub said that 70 years ago, Xizang lacked any modern road infrastructure. The rugged terrain, vast rivers and high-altitude pastoral areas necessitated primitive transportation methods such as footpaths and animal transport to exchange goods among the local populace.

"The absence of adequate transportation severely hampered Xizang's economic productivity and social progress, impeding essential connections with the rest of the country," he said.

"Over the past seven decades, particularly since 2012, the central government has consistently provided substantial support and care for Xizang's transportation development," Dawa Ngodrub said.

He added that Xizang is the sole province in China to receive full state funding for road construction, with the central government allocating 325 billion yuan ($45 billion) to the project between 1953 and 2023.

According to the latest official statistics, the total distance of roads opened in Xizang has reached 123,300 kilometers. As of the end of 2023, 93,000 kilometers of the roads were in rural areas. Towns and administrative villages are 100 percent accessible, and traffic flow rates are 95.55 percent and 82.6 percent, respectively.