All villages in the Tibet Autonomous Region are to have clean drinking water supplies by 2005 under an ambitious project to improve the lives of villagers.

Since 2000, the Tibet Autonomous Region has been undertaking a project to provide sanitary drinking water to local villages. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2005 and costs 480 million yuan (57.83 million U.S. dollars), said an official from the regional government in charge of the issue.

Over 3,000 drinking water distribution points would be built in rural areas, the official said.

In 2000, the regional government conducted an investigation to see how many people and livestock were drinking from the same water sources. A shortage of sanitary drinking water had been hindering the development of the rural economy in Tibet, said a local government official from the Qamdo Prefecture.

Since the peaceful liberation in 1950 of Tibet, the regional government has tried hard to supply clean drinking water to all in Tibet.

So far, 243,000 rural people and 5 million livestock in Tibet have been covered by the sanitary drinking water network.