Tibet has released the “Opinions on Accelerating Tibet’s Water Infrastructure Reforms and Development,” and will attempt to double its average annual investments in water infrastructure projects over the next 10 years compared with 2010, according to the People’s Government of Tibet Autonomous Region.
Local governments at various levels should invest at least 15 percent of their revenue from land use rights sales in agricultural water conservation and flood control projects, according to the “Opinions on Accelerating Tibet’s Water Infrastructure Reforms and Development.”
“Although Tibet is rich with water and hydropower resources, water resources are still one of the key factors in restricting Tibet’s development,” said Zhang Qingli, Party chief of Tibet Autonomous Region. Zhang stressed that it is of great urgency to develop water infrastructure projects in Tibet.
According to statistical data, the amount of surface water resources in Tibet stands at 448 billion cubic meters, around one seventh of China’s total. Tibet total amount of water resources, per capita water availability, water consumption per mu of farmland, and theoretical water resource reserves all rank first in China.
According to the “Opinions on Accelerating Tibet’s Water Infrastructure Reforms and Development,” Tibet will undergo a series of large water infrastructure projects along several major rivers in order to increase water supply capacity by 700 million cubic meters and enable all rural towns and townships to have access to hydroelectric power.
The “Opinions on Accelerating Tibet’s Water Infrastructure Reforms and Development” have made clear that the drinking water safety issue in certain rural and pastoral areas will be addressed by 2013 and the issue facing all rural and pastoral farmers will be solved by the end of the “12th Five-Year Plan” period.
The “Opinions on Accelerating Tibet’s Water Infrastructure Reforms and Development” require Tibet to establish a relatively sound flood control system under which, major towns and infrastructure can survive the worst floods in 30 years, 50 years or 100 years. The supporting water conservation projects for the expansion of key large and medium-sized irrigated areas will generally be completed by 2020.
