Highway gives access to Tibetan plateau
Print Edition
IT might be chilly on the Tibetan Plateau, but the mouths of the local herdsmen are watering, because juicy melons are on their way.
In neighboring Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the melon season is under way and fresh fruit is stacked up at the roadside, waiting to be ferried through the Kunlun Mountains and up to the plateau along the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway.
“Less than a decade ago, a kilogram of melon could sell for 60 yuan (US$9.25) on the plateau. Last year the price was a little over 10 yuan,” said Zhang Lei, head of a police transport detachment on the highway.
National Highway 219 connects Xinjiang and Tibet at an average altitude of more than 4,500 meters. Originally covered by gravel, the 2,340-kilometer highway was almost fully paved by 2013, slashing the travel time between Yecheng County in southern Xinjiang and Ngari Prefecture in Tibet from 15 days to one.
Accidents and fatalities decreased dramatically.
Transport police officer Luo Bing has worked on the highway for 15 years. There were hardly any asphalt roads when he moved to Ritu and now the town has two wide streets filled with restaurants and shops.
About 700 kilometers from Ritu, Song Shibing, head of a transport police troop, has seen dramatic changes in the lifestyles of local people. In 2003, he tried to buy an axe from a herdsman for 100 yuan (several times the price of an axe in a shop), but the herdsman refused his money and brandished an empty 5-liter bottle instead. He wanted diesel.
“Money meant nothing on the plateau as there was almost nothing for sale,” Song said.
“People kept their cash in boxes under the bed.”
Since the capacity of the road increased and it became much safer to drive, vegetables, fruit and necessities arrive on the plateau almost every day. Many herders have taken their money from under their beds and deposited it in a bank.
Tuo Jide, a retired armed transport police driver, has run a restaurant in Xihexiu Village next to the highway for 17 years. Business has blossomed since the road was improved.
“Decades ago, the potholes were deep enough for a yak to hide in,” he said.
“Drivers didn’t dare to hit the road without plenty of food and gas in their cars. Vehicles crashed and broke down all the time along the way.”
With a safe, modern highway, transport costs from Yecheng to Ngari have fallen by 55 percent, leading to cuts of about 40 percent in the price of commodities in the Tibetan town. Better yet, the number of tourists in Ngari has increased fivefold.
“The highway today looks like an airport runway — wide, flat and smooth,” Tuo said.
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