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China going ahead with upgrading
road to Everest Base Camp
22 June, 2007:
China is going ahead with its plan to
upgrade a road through the Tibet
region to the Everest Base Camp. The
work will be completed within three
months, according to a Chinese
official.
The upgrading of the existing
108-kilometre-long dirt road from the
village of Tingri will cost 150
million yuan ($ 19.7 million).
China’s state media has said the
building of a new surfaced, fenced
road to the Everest Base Camp is aimed
at making access easier for tourists
and for the planned Olympic torch
relay over the 8,844-metre summit of
the world’s highest peak in 2008.
In a commentary, the official China
Daily newspaper defended “development”
of Tibet as simply “improving lives of
people.” “We see no harm from better
roads, more convenient communications
and broader availability of power
supplies,” the commentary added.
Several overseas Tibetan groups as
well as activists seeking Tibet’s
freedom from Chinese occupation have
opposed the Olympic torch relay
passing through the Tibet region,
arguing that China will use it for
political purposes.
The Bharatiya Janta Party, the main
Opposition party in India, has
expressed fears that China’s move to
upgrade the road to the Everest Base
Camp could be both an ecological
disaster and another attempt by China
to assert its influence over Tibet.
Meanwhile, China intends to double the
number of tourists visiting Tibet to 6
million by 2010, from the 3 million
forecast in 2007, according to Chinese
state media. Over 90% of the estimated
2.5 million tourists who visited the
region in 2006 were Chinese.
The opening of the first railway to
Tibet in July 2006 had given a major
boost to Tibet’s tourism sector, which
is expected to generate nearly 6
billion yuan ($ 790 million) annually
by 2010 – or 12% of the region’s gross
domestic product.
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