Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, is building a new district to divert the city's growing population and protect cultural relics that are currently downtown.

The Liuwu New District, located at the southern bank of the Lhasa River facing the current downtown district, is to cover 42 square kilometers, 70 percent of the size of the old urban area, with housing for 110,000 local residents, said Shi Wenjiang, head of the district government.

Liuwu district is expected to take shape by 2009. The local government began the construction of four roads in the new district on Tuesday, at a cost of 114 million yuan.

The new district will have a bridge linking the old downtown district about 10 kilometers northward as well as a highway to Gongga Airport, the largest in Tibet. The new district is also where the Lhasa Railway Station of the Qinghai-Tibet railway is located.

"The new district will help ease the pressure on ancient buildings in the old downtown, caused by the increasing population in Lhasa over the past decade," said Shi.

Situated 3,600 meters above sea level, greater Lhasa has seven counties and one district with a total area of 30,000 square km. It has a population of about 600,000, but nearly four-fifths of them live downtown in an area of only about 59 square km.

The 1,300-year-old regional capital boasts many cultural relics related to Tibetan Buddhism, like the Potala Palace, which was listed as a World Cultural Heritage Site in 1994.

"With the economic development of Tibet, especially in tourism, more people are choosing to live in Lhasa and the limited area of the current downtown district can not meet the needs of development," said Shi.

According to the official, the regional government plans to develop the new district into a high-tech industrial and business center of Tibet, which is expected to provide 114,000 jobs to local people.

"Seventeen major companies in Tibet have decided to move their plants and headquarters into the new district with a total investment of 820 million yuan," he said.

Shi also promised that the government will give full consideration to environment protection when building the new district.

"The regional government will not only improve the environmental protection facilities in the old downtown district but will also make the Liuwu New district a garden district by using clean energy, reducing emissions and increasing greenery," said Shi.

(Xinhua News Agency November 15, 2007)