Over 120,000 km of roads operational in Tibet

Aerial photo taken on Jan. 28, 2021 shows a section of the No. 109 national highway, the Qinghai-Tibet railway, a high-grade highway and a village-level road (L to R) between Lhasa and Nagqu in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)

LHASA, March 17 (Xinhua) -- By 2021, the total length of roads operational exceeded 120,000 km in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, local authorities said Thursday.

In Tibet, five townships and 67 administrative villages gained access to hard roads in 2021. This made hard roads reach to 94.55 percent of the region's total townships and 77.94 percent of the total administrative villages by the end of the year, according to the regional transport department.

Authorities in Tibet accelerated 15 key construction projects last year, including the middle section of the highway from the regional capital Lhasa to Xigaze.

Tibet completed investment worth 20.1 billion yuan (about 3.2 billion U.S. dollars) in fixed assets for road transport last year, said Xu Wenqiang, head of the department.

The department aims to complete investment in transport worth over 21.6 billion yuan in 2022.