First improvements to world’s highest roadway completed

LHASA—The first improvements to the only highway to Mount Qomolangma (Mount Everest), the world’s highest peak, have been completed, says a senior official of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.
The work, the first since the road to the mountain’s Base Camp was built in 1978, had seen the road surface made even, the road base widened, and the bends fenced by guardrails, said regional vice chairman Hao Peng.
“Driving used to be very dangerous on the mountain road with more than 170 curves, but that’s in the past now,” said Hao.
With a length of 110 km and a 3.5-meter-wide road surface, the highway starts from the national highway 318 inside Tingri, Xigaze Prefecture, and ends at Rongpu Monastery near the Base Camp at the foot of the mountain. Hao said the regional government planned a second stage of improvements in which the sand and stone road would be sealed with asphalt.
“But the plan is subject to a feasibility study and environment assessment before it is approved by the central government. That will probably take a pretty long time,” said Hao. Hao reiterated a denial that the regional government planned to build other tourist facilities, such as hotels, at the Base Camp and denied that a whole new road was planned on the mountain.
Ciduo, a Tibetan tourist bus driver said the repairs had cut bus travel times in half from the previous average of four hours.
Gama, chief of the administration for Mount Qomolangma State-Level Nature Reserve, said the improvements would help protect and preserve the vulnerable plateau ecosystem.
“Before the repairs, the road surface was bumpy and unsafe, many drivers shunned the highway and would drive their vehicles off road, which destroyed the vegetation,” said Gama.
“I hope all drivers will now choose to drive on the highway,” said Gama. Dawa, director of agriculture and animal husbandry department of Tingri County, said the repaired highway would play a role in helping raise income of local farmers and herders, and in facilitating their out-bound trips to seek employment.
Tingri, with more than 40,000 farmers and herders, is the place where the Mount Qomolangma locates. Per capita income for local residents was 1,700 yuan (about 213 U.S. dollars) last year, and labor export contributed 67 percent of cash income of local residents in the same year. “While developing agriculture and animal husbandry, we will also focus Mount Qomolangma-related tourism and produce farm and livestock products catering to tourists,” said Dawa. “With the repaired highway, we can also sell many locally produced specialties to the outside world, which also contributes to local economic development and improvement of living standard of local people,” the official said.
Organizers of the Beijing Olympic Games have ambitious plans for the longest torch relay in Olympic history — a 137,000-km, 130-day route that would cross five continents and scale Mount Qomolangma, which straddles the border between China and Nepal. Around 320,000 tourists had visited the Base Camp area in the year to Sept.18.—Xinhua