China’s South Asia ‘bridgehead’ needs urgent infrastructure boost to aid security, mineral exploration
- Power grid and railway infrastructure improvements in a strategically important area of the Tibet autonomous region are urgently needed, says a ‘two sessions’ delegate
- Ngari prefecture, which borders India, ‘is an important transport and logistics hub in the western part of the country’, says Duan Xiangdong
China should address an urgent need for infrastructure construction in a strategically important part of its southwestern Tibet autonomous region – seen as a “bridgehead” to South Asia – to enhance national security and mineral exploration, according to the head of one of its largest aluminium producers.
“As a base for China’s mineral resources reserve, [Ngari prefecture] is an important transport and logistics hub in the western part of the country,” said Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference delegate Duan Xiangdong during the ongoing “two sessions” in Beijing.
“There is an urgent need [for the region] to enhance its infrastructure, such as electricity and transport.”
Located in the remote and high-altitude western region near India, Ngari prefecture grapples with a challenging terrain and harsh climate, which has hindered logistics and infrastructure development, further constraining its economic progress.
Relying solely on road transport results in long distances, high costs, and low efficiency
While the region had made progress in mineral exploration that has contributed to China’s reserves of strategic mineral resources over the past few years, progress has been crippled by inadequate infrastructure, Duan added.
“Currently, the electrical grid capacity in the region is insufficient to meet the demands of its economic and social development, particularly given the absence of railway lines,” he said, according to the Aluminum Corporation of China official website on Tuesday.
He added that the region’s administrative centre is over 1,200km (746 miles) from the nearby railway stations.
“Relying solely on road transport results in long distances, high costs and low efficiency, thereby compromising the region’s ability to support the security and development of the country’s border area,” Duan added.
He called for “concurrently advancing” infrastructure construction and mineral resource exploration to “turn its resource advantages into economic strengths”.
Beijing has put energy self-reliance and security high on its agenda, ramping up domestic exploration and mining for critical minerals amid growing geopolitical tensions that risk its status in the global supply chain.
Duan suggested speeding up power grid construction in northwest Tibet, increasing electricity purchase from other regions and enhancing the transmission capacity of power interconnections with the neighbouring provinces of Sichuan and Qinghai.
To address the logistics challenges, Duan proposed accelerating the construction of the northern line of the Xinjiang-Tibet railway.
Tibet plans to complete building 4,000km of railway lines by 2025, according to its 14th five-year plan, with the section between the city of Xigaze – also known as Shigatse – and Lake Pelku expected to begin operation next year.
The government and relevant enterprises should also work together to improve the green, efficient and sustainable exploration and utilisation of strategic mineral resources in the prefecture, added Duan.
Beijing has increased investment in Tibet, initiating a project to establish the world’s highest computing data centre in its capital city of Lhasa, which will span over 645,000 square metres (6.9 million sq ft).
The 11.8 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion) project, which completed its first phase of construction in 2020, is expected to produce an annual revenue of 10 billion yuan, according to the state-backed Xinhua News Agency.
