End of the road is a new beginning for remote county

By Wang Qian (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-21 08:54

Renchen Norbu has been waiting for this moment for more than three decades - the sight of a construction team laying a road in the isolated county in the Tibet autonomous region.

Once the highway is built - construction started on Monday- Medog will be the last of the country's 2,100 counties to be linked to the outside world, and the 54-year-old headmaster of the only school there can look forward to what is taken for granted elsewhere.

"With a highway in place, students will have new textbooks delivered in time and more teachers will come," the head of the 360-pupil school told China Daily.

The school is one of the solid structures built with bricks in the county of about 10,000 residents - and every brick and tile was carried by porters, the same way food reaches the village once a month.

The 117-km highway, which will link Bome Zhamu town of Nyingchi prefecture and Medog county, will traverse six rivers and Galongia Mountain, the Ministry of Transport said.

The $139-million project will be completed in three years, the ministry said, which will bring an end to relying on horses and mules for transport.

Nestled among snow-capped mountains, the county has mountain paths linking villages. But frequent landslides and mud-rock flows cut off even those basic amenities. Traffic is suspended all year round except August to October. The tough terrain, complicated geological conditions, shortage of funds and technological limitations led to seven failed attempts to build a highway to Medog since 1961.

An engineer at Tibet Tianlu Co Ltd which manages part of the highway, who did not want to be named, told China Daily on Monday that they now have advanced surveying and mapping technologies.

Medog, which means "flower" in Tibetan, is a sought-after destination for adventurers because of its beauty and inaccessibility.

Tang Seng, a 50-year-old guide who has been to Medog twice, said: "It is the most beautiful place I have ever seen, with real harmony between nature and man."

But he said he is worried that a highway could lead to excessive commercialization and spoil the charm of the place.

Even some of the local people are anxious about their future.

Sherab, a 31-year-old porter who makes a living by carrying travelers' luggage, said he is worried that he will lose his job once the highway is completed.

"I can do nothing except carry baggage," he said.

But experts said that with proper management, road building would not lead to environmental degeneration.

"Every coin has two sides. But with strict rules on environment protection, its beautiful scenery will remain untouched," said Wang Rusong, head of the center for ecological and environment sciences at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.