The world's highest airport will be built in Tibet next year as part of Beijing's new investment in the restive Himalayan region.
The airport in Nagqu prefecture will be 4,436 metres above sea level, 102 metres higher than the current highest in Qamdo , also in Tibet, Xinhua reported. Local officials said the construction of the sixth civilian airport in Tibet would start next year and was scheduled for completion by 2014.
A total of 1.8 billion yuan (HK$2.04 billion) has been earmarked for the airport, which will occupy between 233 and 267 hectares to the southeast of Nagqu town.
Xinhua said it had been listed as a priority project in the region's new economic blueprint for the five-year period from 2011. Although the report made no mention of technical details about the airport, building large infrastructure projects at such an altitude is challenging.
Tibet has two airports already in operation, in the capital Lhasa and the eastern town of Nyingchi. Another two are being built, in Tibet's second-largest city, Xigaze , and in Ngari prefecture in the far west - both are expected to open this year.
'The new airport marks a key step in perfecting Tibet's aviation system, and will be a stepping stone towards direct air links with the Indian subcontinent,' Xu Bo , an aviation regulator in Tibet, said.