China opens new grid to ease power woes in Tibet

BEIJING: China today opened a $1.08-billion power grid to ease the electricity shortages experienced by more than five lakh people in the remote Himalayan region of Tibet.

The grid links Qamdo in Tibet Autonomous Region with the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze in Sichuan Province.

The project aims to put an end to electricity shortages of the over 500,000 residents of the Qamdo region and ease power strain in Tibet as a whole, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The complex interconnection circuits stretch 1,521 kilometers across the plateau at an average altitude of 3,850 metres. Its construction involved more than 20,000 staff over eight months, the State Grid Corporation of China said.

Senior leader of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), Yu Zhengsheng inspected the power dispatching centre under the State Grid before the announcement of its commencement.

China has pumped billions of dollars into Tibet in recent years to build infrastructure in the rugged mountainous region with five airports, rail links and road networks.