An elderly resident stands in front of her new house, located in the rural parts of Zayul county, Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region. [Photo by Palden Nyima/ chinadaily.com.cn]
 

The Tibet autonomous region plans to implement more than 1,300 rural revitalization projects this year, with an estimated investment of more than 14.67 billion yuan ($2.17 billion).

 

Among the plans, the construction of 84 projects with an investment of 701 million yuan has already begun, and a total of 809 projects with investment topping 9.13 billion yuan have completed preliminary work and entered the bidding process, according the region's rural revitalization bureau.

 

The region is working "to promote all-around rural revitalization, to enhance people's sense of gain and happiness and to accelerate agricultural development in 2023", Wang Junzheng, the region's Party secretary, said at a regional work conference on rural affairs recently.

 

It wants "to promote the intensive processing of agricultural products, to develop rural tourism, leisure agriculture and rural e-commerce, and to cultivate new agricultural and animal husbandry business entities in the rural areas," Wang said.

 

It will "focus on introducing a number of agricultural and animal husbandry industrialization leading enterprises, build and strengthen professional cooperatives for rural residents and let them share the results of social reform and development", Wang added.

 

Meng Chunhui, deputy head of the rural revitalization bureau in Nang county, said that starting from 2021, a series of rural revitalization projects have been implemented, and rural villagers have been benefiting.

 

Meng said rural revitalization projects in his county were mainly rural infrastructure upgrades, including the improvement of sewage treatment systems, water supplies, the living conditions and road pavement.

 

"More than 200 million yuan was invested in infrastructure projects in more than 10 villages and six townships in our county in 2022, and we plan to implement similar projects in 14 new villages this year," Meng said.

 

"These projects also provide job opportunities for residents, providing another main source of income for them. All construction sites welcome local workers, which enables them to earn money without traveling far from their homes."

By Daqiong and Palden Nyima in Lhasa