Beijing will invest more than 100 billion yuan in Tibet by 2010 in a move described by state media as a sign of the central government's unprecedented level of support for the Himalayan region's development.
The money would be spent on 180 projects, including an extension of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway between Lhasa and Xigaze , Xinhua reported.
The projects are part of the government's latest five-year plan on Tibet which was approved by the State Council on January 31 and announced by the autonomous region's government yesterday, the report said.
The announcement came amid reports by foreign media that hundreds of Tibetans had been gathering in Lhasa praying for the Dalai Lama, their exiled spiritual leader.
Zhang Qingli , Tibet's Communist Party boss, said it was a very rare move for the Politburo to have commissioned such a study on public works in a region.
Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibetan Autonomous Region government, a rank equivalent to that of a provincial governor, said government investment would be the main driving force for development in the short term.