Work on a super logistics center to handle freight for the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is almost complete, but an operating date has still to be set, according to the construction company.

About 98.6 percent of the construction on what will be Tibet's largest logistics center was complete, said Yang Yanguang, a project leader from China Railway Construction Engineering Group.

Work was focusing on indoor decoration, electrical circuitry and auxiliary projects, said Yang.

Nagqu Logistics Center is next to a railway station at an altitude of 4,500 meters in Nagqu Township of Nagqu County, northern Tibet. It is about 300 km northeast of the regional capital Lhasa.

Covering 533 hectares, the center will comprise two key cargo zones and a production and processing zone.

It is expected to handle up to 4.07 million tonnes of freight by 2030, further exploiting the potential of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, which opened in July 2006 and boost the region's economic development, said Yang.

Construction began in September 2007 at a planned cost of almost 1.5 billion yuan (US$220 million).

It is scheduled to be finished in June, but when it would start operation remained unknown, said Yang.

(Xinhua News Agency April 20, 2009)