Tibet: income of the people more important than GDP

Chinanews, Lhasa, July 19 - With the help of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, Tibet has witnessed an economic boom since last year. In the first 6 months of 2007, the GDP growth of Tibet was 14.1%, a new high. However, according to Deng Xiaogang, vice chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, GDP growth has never been the top concern of the Tibetan regional government, but the income of the people.
"The operation of the railway has offered Tibet many possibilities, including the possibility of industrial development," said Deng. "Our goal is to make sure that the average net income of farmers and herdspeople in Tibet reaches the middle level in the country before 2010"
Hot tourism has contributed a lot to the booming economy of Tibet. The number of visitors and income from tourism has both leaped by some 80% last year. Deng is confident of protecting the fragile ecoenvrionment from tourism. "Today, Tibet can be called one of the cleanest places in the world. There is no acid rain or water pollution here at all, and I believe anyone who has been to Tibet is impressed by the crystal clear water here," said Deng.
Tibet even issued regulations on June 1, 2006, on banning the development of gold mines, fearing that it might ruin the ecoenvironment. "Before we have pollution-free technologies, we won't start to develop the mines," said Deng proudly.
These days, many businesspeople have come to Tibet to investigate investment possibilities, but Tibet has set very strict rules for them. Among all the rules, environmental protection is always the first.
"We will try our best to make our development sustainable," concluded Deng.