Qiangba Puncog, who was re-elected chairman of
the Tibet regional government on Tuesday, said the improvement of
farmer and headsmen's lives is the top priority for his
government.
"We will uphold the guideline of serving the people
wholeheartedly, exercising power for the people, showing concern
for them and working for their interests," said the official when
meeting with journalists after the re-election.
Great changes have taken place in Tibet in the past decades, he
said. However, it remains the most underdeveloped area in the
country and "development is the prerequisite and key to solving all
the problems in Tibet," he added.
"We will take a clear stand against secession and unswervingly
serve for national unity," he said.
Qiangba Puncog, born in 1947 of Tibetan nationality, has been in
the post of regional government chairman since 2003.
Tibet plans to provide housing for 52,000 farmers and herders
this year, as part of the project beginning from 2006 to build
homes for 220,000 households. The project, once finished, would
mean housing for 80 percent of the region's farmers and herders by
the end of 2010.
During the past two years, the regional government spent more
than 1.3 billion yuan (179 million U.S. dollars) to help farmers
move into brick houses from wood-and-earth residences, and to help
nomadic herders settle down.
To date, 570,000 farmers and herders from 112,000 households
have taken part in the project. The per capita housing area in
Tibet has reached 36.4 square meters against 16.8 sq. m. before the
project.
Qiangba Puncog has said on the sidelines of the legislative
session that the regional government would spend 50 million yuan in
training 130,000 farmers and herders this year to help them find
jobs more easily.
The region has a surplus labor force of 450,000 farmers and
headsmen. However, lack of skills have hindered their employment,
the official said.
More than 60 percent of the 450,000 people barely finished
primary schools or are even illiterate, while 90 percent have not
vocational skills at all.
The region trained 120,000 farmers and herdsmen last year in
electrical engineering, construction, handicraft, weaving and other
skills.
Last year, the Tibet regional government built 9,616 kilometers
of highways in the rural areas and enabled 848 villages to have
access to highways. It supplied electricity for about 180,000
people who had not had access to power or suffered from shortages.
It also provided safe drinking water for 332,800 people.
(Xinhua News Agency January 23, 2008)