The Secret Tibet (The Forbidden world)

Xinhua: 2007-11-20

LHASA, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, is to see its city area expand by more than 60 percent with the establishment of an urban district for the city's growing population.

The 42-square-kilometer Liuwu New District on the southeastern bank of the Lhasa River will take Lhasa's city proper to about 100 square kilometers from the current 60 square kilometers when the district takes shape in 2009.

Armed troops gather at Drepung on October 17, the day the Dalai Lama received the Congressional Gold Medal. Picture obtained by the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, India, www.tchrd.org

"Lhasa will look much bigger on the map," said mayor Doje Cezhug.

When the Tibet Autonomous Region was founded in 1965, Lhasa's city area was just five square kilometers.

Today, nearly four-fifths of Lhasa's 600,000 residents live downtown, though greater Lhasa has seven counties and one district covering about 30,000 square kilometers. At least 80 percent of Lhasa's population are Tibetans.

The new district will accommodate 110,000 residents and has welcomed 17 businesses with a total investment of 800 million yuan (US$102.5 million), said Doje Cezhug.

Houses in the new district will be two-story, quake-resistant structures in traditional Tibetan style, said Jiang Feng, an urban planning official from Beijing working in Tibet.

He said the Liuwu New District would become a major hub for finance, real estate and tourism.