A ceremony was held Sunday in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region to launch the Zhigung Hydro-electric Plant Project, the biggest of its kind in the region.

Located in Maizhokunggar County on the Lhasa River, the power station has a planned generating capacity of 100,000 kw with its reservoir, which is under construction, capable of storing 225 million cubic meters of water.

With total funding of 1.33 billion yuan (US$162 million),the project will take five years to complete.

The power station is expected to produce 407 million kwh a year for Lhasa and other cities in central Tibet.

Qiangba Puncog, chairman of Tibet Autonomous Region, said the power plant, together with existing hydro-electric stations in the central part of the region, would help meet the power demand in the region before 2010.

The first group of generation units is scheduled to go into production in December 2006 and the whole project is expected to be completed by the end of September 2007.

The project is listed as a state major energy project from 2001to 2005.

((Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2003)