A senior environment official said yesterday in Beijing that
authorities have taken effective environmental protection measures
along the right-of-way of the Qinghai-Tibet railway, which is
currently under construction, to protect local wildlife and natural
surroundings.
Long-term monitoring of the local environment and the activities
of wildlife needs to be carried out to make timely improvements,
said Zhu Xingxiang, vice-director of the supervision and management
department under the State Environmental Protection
Administration.
The Qinghai-Tibet railway, which will be the highest railway in
the world, will be the first rail link between Tibet and rest of
the country. Construction started in 2001 and is scheduled to be
completed by 2007.
More than 1,100 kilometers long, the railway will link Golmud,
in Northwest China's Qinghai Province, with Lhasa, capital of the
Tibet Autonomous Region.
Possible environmental impacts of the construction work have
long been a top concern among authorities, because the local
ecosystem is considered to be particularly fragile because the air
is rarefied and the plateau is cold and dry and subject to strong
winds. Earlier this month, the State Environmental Protection
Administration sent an investigation team, consisting of
environment and biology experts and officials from involved
departments, to see if the environment is being effectively
protected along the railway's right-of-way.
Construction contractors have attached great importance to the
protection of perpetually frozen earth, and the rivers and wildlife
along the railway, according to Zhu.
Bridges or paths have been made along the completed sections of
the railway to allow passage of animals.
During construction, areas where the land has been disturbed are
closely monitored and measures are taken to restore vegetation, he
said.
All the daily waste generated by construction workers is
collected and treated, and the investigation teams found no signs
of littering, Zhu said.
(China Daily August 29, 2003)