Two people cross a river with a ropeway.[Photo/File]

People in Chamdo Prefecture, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region，will be able to cross the region's deep ravines and rivers more safely through bridges instead of ropeways.

Statistics from Chamdo Prefecture Poverty Alleviation Office show that over 28,000 people from 61 villages of 29 towns and townships in 11 counties in Chamdo relied on ropeways to cross rivers in the past.

“The use of ropeways for transportation not only poses a safety threat, but has also choked local economic and social development.” said Li Peikun, head of the region's poverty alleviation office. He said, since 2009, the government has earmarked 120 million yuan to build 56 bridges to replace the ropeways that local residents have used to traverse the ravines.

The completion of all the bridges construction marks that Chamdo people thoroughly bid farewell to the “ropeways era”.

Now, a 162 -meter long bridge linking the Lancangjiang River and Chang bang Highway has been newly built in Ralpa Village of Chamdo County, in Chamdo Prefecture.

Garsong, a villager from Ralpa Village said “In the past, people had to rely on the ropeways to cross the river. Every rainy season, when the river water rises, the body will get to the water surface when people slip to half of the ropeway. People were trembled all over with fear”.

The building of the bridge here not only brings convenience to the villagers when going outside, but also helps to transport the village agricultural products out.“We feel much safer when we walk on the capacious and solid bridge deck", said Garsong.

A new bridge was built to replace the ropeway.[Photo/File]

In Ralpa Village, although the new bridge has been built,the ropeway has not been demolished.

The head of the Ralpa Village Committees Dawa Tsering said ropeway witnesses Tibet traffic development; it also carries on countless memories of the local people. Therefore, it has a certain historical and cultural value. When conditions permit, they plan to develop it into a characteristic tourism project of eastern Tibet in the future.

Chamdo is located in the Hengduan Mountain Range, where the Yangze River, the Yellow River and the Lantsang River flow into one. It is one of the birthplaces of the long history and culture on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Chamdo is known as the "Tibet portal", which is the place of the first Five-Starred Red Flag (the national flag of the People's Republic of China) raised in Tibet, where the peaceful liberation of Tibet started.