High-altitude highway built on herdsmen's doorstep

A 34-kilometer-long plateau highway has made transport much easier for the herdsmen grazing their animals in Rangtang county, Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture, Southwest China's Sichuan province.

The road, winding its way between an altitude of 3,500 to 4,200 meters, has linked two townships in the county, one on alpine meadow and the other on the foot of the mountain.

Three villages living on raising livestock are now connected by the highway. Before the road was built, the herders had to make a detour to sell yaks, milk, herbs collected from the mountains at the town on the bottom.

When the whole construction work completes in July, the travel distance between the two towns will be shortened by 43 kilometers.

"It took about four hour's ride by horse for herders to reach the town to sell milk. Now the time has reduced to only 30 minutes. So the sale price has increased from 4 yuan ($0.98) to 7 yuan per 500 grams as the milk is fresher," said He Dongming, vice-director of the transport bureau of the county.

With an investment of 50 million yuan, the project is part of a poverty eradication plan under the Ministry of Transport aimed at improving local infrastructure in Rangtang county.