A senior official with the Ministry of Railways said China is technically and financially capable of constructing the proposed Qinghai-Tibet Railway, and he pledged that the ministry will use every means available to prevent corruption and shoddy construction.

Vice-Minister Sun Yongfu said the railway is of strategic significance and will have a far-reaching impact politically, economically and militarily.

The railway, the world's highest, will be financed totally by the central government, with tenders offered to domestic companies, Sun said. Currently Tibet is the only area on the mainland without a railway.

Advanced foreign technology, especially expertise on frozen-soil engineering, will be used in both feasibility studies and in construction, Sun said.

The railway, 1,100 kilometres in length, will be completed within six years to link up Golmud, a traffic hub in Qinghai Province, with Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

It will later be extended to Xigaze and Nyingchi in Tibet, and to some points in Yunnan Province.

The vice-minister also revealed that his ministry is working with other departments concerned to study ways to minimize the negative effects of the project on the environment.

As the railway will pass through a region that is home to the sources of the country's largest rivers, including the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, careful measures will be taken to prevent damage to vegetation, he said.

According to some experts, surface mantle with its root systems can be removed before earth removal for line construction takes place, and it can be replaced when the roadbed is completed.

Another method to replace surface root systems could be the planting of grass.

"We will do our best to protect natural resources," Sun said.

Ran Li, chief engineer with the No 1 Survey and Design Institute under the Ministry of Railways, holds the view that the project will play a key role in protecting the ecological environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

A "green belt" will be built along the planned railway, Ran said.

He also said that, in line with the results of experiments, they have worked out measures to protect frozen earth during the construction process.

To protect animal and plant resources in the Hoh Xil, Qiangtang and other nature reserves in the area, extra bridges and passages for animals will be built on the section of the railway in the nature reserve areas, Ran added.

Special measures are to be taken to keep the environment along the railroad clean.

Xinhua

Date: 03/19/2001

by China Daily