Tibet reviews five years of progress

More than 394 billion yuan ($62 billion) has been spent in infrastructure construction over the past five years in the Tibet autonomous region, which has seen rapid social economic development, regional officials said at the regional 10th congress of the Communist Party of China.

The region's GDP saw an average annual growth of 9 percent over the past five years, among the highest in China.

Between 2015 and 2020, the Lhasa-Nyingchi section of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway was finished and started operating, and Fuxing bullet trains were put into use the first time in the region, Wang Junzheng, Party chief of the region, said in a report at the congress on Saturday.

The cities of Lhokha, Nyingchi and Nagchu are connected with expressways, all the region's counties are linked with paved roads and all townships can be reached with proper roads, Wang said.

Terminal 3 at Lhasa Gonggar Airport opened this year, three feeder airports are under construction, all the region's counties and districts are connected by the state grid and the region's crop output has remained at above 1 million metric tons, Wang noted.

In addition, the region's residents witnessed improvements to their livelihoods over the past five years. The per capita disposable income of rural residents has seen double-digit growth, reaching 14,598 yuan as of the end of last year.

"Around 628,000 impoverished people in 74 counties and districts have been lifted out of poverty during the period, and more than 260,000 residents living in harsh environments have been relocated into valleys and urban towns," Wang said.