Shigatse [Photo/Xinhua]

On July 29th, Shigatse City held a news conference in Lhasa on Shigatse City’s economic and social development since the establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region 50 years ago, Chinatibetnews.com reported.

Shigatse’s Vice Mayor Samdrup Tsering briefed the audience the Shigatse’s economic development, social undertaking and progress in people’s  daily lives. He hoped that, during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period(2016-2020), the annual growth of Shigatse's GDP and fixed assets could reach 12 percent and 13 percent respectively.

Economy

GDP increased by 56 times in the past 50 years

Over the past 50 years, Shigatse’s total GDP has increased from 75 million yuan to 14.64 billion yuan. This amount calculated through parity prices means the economy has grown by 56 times with an average annual growth of 8.6 percent. Included in these figures, in 2014 Shigatse achieved 2.84 billion yuan in total tourism industry revenue. Foreign trade in 2014 amounted to2.165 billion US dollars and retail sales of social consumer goods exceeded 6.603 billion yuan.

In addition, total fixed assets and investment has increased from 1.17 million yuan in 1965 to 1.1586 billion yuan in 2014. This portion of the economy increased by 9,902 times with an annual average growth of 20.7 percent.

Transportation

Comprehensive transport system basically formed

Over the past 50 years, a comprehensive system of transport has been basically formed in Shigatse. The Shigatse Air Port and the Lhasa-Shigatse Railway have been opened to traffic, 18 counties have all been accessible to asphalt road, and the total mileage in the whole city has reached 150,000 kilometers.

Medical Treatment

253 public health institutions

Medical services have significantly improved. Shigatse now has 253 public health institutions with 2,624 hospital beds and 2,359 medical personnel. On average there are now 3.4 hospital beds and 3.1 public health professionals per thousand people.

Tourism

Successful branding of cultural tourism

Shigatse’s successful branding of cultural tourism brings it a step closer to its aim to become a global tourist destination.

The Shigatse tour, themed as "magic Mt. Qomolangma, mysterious Tsang, and auspicious Shigatse", will focus on five high-end tourist routes, including tours of Mt. Qomolangma, Red River Valley, Yarlung Zangpo and Himalayas.

The local government will actively promote the establishment of 5A-level scenic spots, such as Mt. Qomolangma and Tashilhunpo Monastery, and 4A-level scenic spots, such as the Sakya and Gyantse ancient towns, as well as Gyirong and Zham valleys.

Ecology:

Forest coverage reaches 9.2 percent

Since the "12th Five-Year Plan" period(2010-2015), Shigatse has completed afforestation of 1.2678 million acres, reaching a forest coverage rate of 9.2 percent.

"One Belt, One Road"

Adhering to the all-round opening-up policy

Shigatse is an important hub on the "One Belt, One Road". In the next step, Shigatse will strictly implement the all-round opening-up policy, and build itself as a bridgehead of international passageway leading to South Asia. Shigatse will accelerate the constructions of Shigatse-Gyirong and Shigatse- Yadong highways, Sino-Nepal Highway, Himalaya Economic Belt, as well as ports and their infrastructures. Meanwhile, China will enlarge the trade scales with Nepal and India.

Shigatse was upgraded from a prefecture to a city in December 2014.

(One US dollar ≈ 6.2 yuan)