Thanks to the aiding Tibet work in past 20 years, Tibet's transportation has been greatly improved, which can be reflected by the following statistics.

84.5 billion yuan

Due to the low economic development level and limited local financial resources, for a long time Tibet's road traffic construction fully depended on the country's investment, with transportation aiding funds as the only capital source of local traffic construction.

During the past 20 years, the total amount of aiding funds specialized in transportation kept increasing year by year. During China's 8th five-year plan from 1991 to 1995, the aiding-Tibet fund was 1.47 billion yuan, and the number raised to 3.8 billion yuan during the 9th five-year plan (from 1995 to 2000).

From 2001 to 2005, the amount of investment hit 13 billion yuan with 3,134-kilometers road constructed.

From 2006 to 2010, the transportation investment reached 20.1 billion yuan and constructed 18,000-kilometers road, and since 2011 the amount of investment has been over 46 billion yuan, 30 times more than that during the 8th five-year plan.

The past 20 years has witnessed 84.5 billion yuan transportation investment.

(1 billion yuan ≈ 163 million US dollars)

 
File photo shows a section of Sichuan-Tibet highway. [Photo/ Baidu] 

70,591 kilometers

During the past 20 years of aiding Tibet, highway mileage newly constructed and reconstructed has broken through 66,000 kilometers, and the total highway mileage has increased to 70,591 kilometers from 22,000 kilometers in 1994.

Among the achievements there are some groundbreaking projects: the highway connecting Lhasa and Gonggar Airport becomes the first high-grade highway in Tibet, the opening of Medog highway ends the county's status as the only one in China inaccessible by road, and the reconstruction of G219 highway ends Nagri’s status as the last prefecture in Tibet inaccessible by asphalt.

At present the mileage of classified highways in Tibet have reached 48,678 kilometers from 10,461 kilometers in the past, among which there has been 37.8-kilometer first-class highway, 1,032.6-kilometer secondary roads, 7,741-kilometer tertiary roads and 39,867-kilometer forth-class roads. The density of highway has reached 5.43 kilometer per one hundred square kilometer, tripling the past density of 1.72 kilometer per one hundred square kilometer.

290,000 cars

As the improvement of Tibet's transportation conditions, the number of car ownership in Tibet also increases rapidly.

At present the number of car ownership in Tibet has been near 290,000, among which there are 40,000 commercial cars, reaching a passenger transport coverage rate of 98.6 percent on the county level and 61 percent on the township level.

Composed of 60 passenger stations on county level, 6 on township level and 205 stops, the initial formation of passenger traffic network in Tibet has brought convenience to the locals' travel.

Photo shows that cyclists ride on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway. [Photo/ Xinhua]