World's highest express way opened last weekend...

Less than two months after the 435km railroad opened from Lhasa to Nyingchi Prefecture in the south-western tip of the 𝗧𝗶𝗯𝗲𝘁 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗧𝗔𝗥) , last weekend the world’s highest highway opened from Lhasa going north to Nagqu Town in 𝗡𝗮𝗴𝗾𝘂 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲, 那曲市, ནག་ཆུ་གྲོང་ཁྱེར། in the Northern Tibetan Plateau, bordering Qinghai province.

With a total length of 295 km and an average height of 4,500km, it is the first express way connecting Lhasa with the northern Tibetan grasslands. The highway is a section of the National 𝗚𝟲 𝗕𝗲𝗶𝗷𝗶𝗻𝗴-𝗟𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗮 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝘆. The road cuts travel time by more than half to about 3 hours.

The infrastructure will increase Nagqu’s integration in Tibet’s economy and as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. The connectivity will also increase the tourism potential. Naqqu Town is located in southern part of the same name prefecture and to get an idea of vastness, the prefecture is about the size of Sweden (450,000km2). With a population of about 450,000 and an average altitude of over 4,500m. Aren't these '45' numbers wonderful 😊

Nagqu prefecture is blessed with high mountains and grasslands with more than 80% of all lakes in Tibet. 11 lakes are larger than 100km2 with Namtso lake and Siling lake being the most known, both salt water lakes with each a size of about 2,000km2. Only Qinghai lake is a larger salt lake in China (4,340km2). Did you know that there are 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝟰𝟱𝟬 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗹𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗧𝗶𝗯𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗮𝘂 ?

Nagqu is one of China's five biggest pastures with a high biodiversity of flora and fauna. Tsanden Monastery is one of the renowned buddhist monasteries in Nagqu Prefecture, built at 4,100m in 1668.

#china#tibet#infrastructure#beltandroadinitiative#chinanature#qinghai#tibetan#chinesesociety#povertyalleviation