The central government is to invest 10 billion yuan on building new or renovating existing highways here in the five years starting from 2001, a local official source said.

Renovating the existing five national trunk lines and 14 regional highways will be the focus of the efforts. And some 2,000km of roads leading to 100 townships and 600 villages will also be upgraded.

Tibet is the only region which has no railways among China's 34provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. It depends mainly on highways to transport goods into and out of the region.

This landlocked region in southwestern China spent a total of 3.6 billion yuan on road construction in the past five years, giving highway access to over 80 percent of its townships.

By the year 2010, the region's highways are expected to exceed 25,900 kilometers in length, linking all the villages in Tibet.