Xi Jinping Pushes Mega-Dam, Rail Links to Boost Tibet Infrastructure

To stimulate growth in Tibet, the Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the nation to develop key infrastructure projects in the area including its mega- dam worth 1.2 trillion yuan (167 billion dollars).

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Such huge initiatives as the Yarlung Tsangpo hydropower project and the Sichuan-Tibet railway should be pursued with firmness, orderliness and economy, Xi said Wednesday during his visit to the regional capital, Lhasa. The Chinese leader also encouraged the area to come up with agriculture and clean energy through enhancing the convergence of cultural and tourism industries, the state media said.

The Yarlung Tsangpo project will be one of the largest infrastructure undertakings in the history due to 60 times more cement being used in comparison to the Hoover Dam and more steel than 116 Empire State Buildings. Building commenced a month ago and the construction may take at least a decade to conclude. It is a legacy-sustaining roll of the dice by Xi to ensure the long-term recovery of a faltering economy, consolidation of control over a particularly troublesome region and an ability to exert influence much further afield.

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Xi wittingly visits the region, signaling how important Beijing sees the development in the region as the president is personally heading a central government delegation to Tibet for the first time in history, reported Xinhua. The leader is to participate in an event the following Thursday, March 25, in Lhasa to celebrate the 60 th anniversary of the region formation.

Saying that political stability, social order, ethnic solidarity and religious harmony are important keys to the development of Tibet, on Wednesday, he urged that more should be done to strengthen the sense of community of the Chinese nation. Beijing has been blamed on its Tibet policies, which have been the subject of stringent social, security and religious measures, similar to its north neighbor Xinjiang.

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