The construction of the Qinghai-Tibet rail line does not
threaten the fragile eco-system of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the
source of most of China's major waterways, said China's environment
watchdog organization in Beijing Friday at a press conference.
Pan Yue, deputy director of the State Environmental
Protection Administration (SEPA), said that measures have been
taken to effectively protect water sources, frozen earth, wetlands,
vegetation and migration routes for wild animals.
The 1,956-km-long Qinghai-Tibet railway, which links Xining, Qinghai's
capital in northwest China, with Lhasa capital city of the Tibet
Autonomous Region, records the highest elevation of any rail
line in the world, reaching 5,072 meters above sea level at
Tanggula Range.
Because the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has a vulnerable,
high-altitude eco-system with thin air and cold temperatures, once
vegetation is damaged, it cannot be easily restored. Therefore,
despite its 2 billion yuan (US$241 million) environmental
investment, the railway project has drawn concerns about possible
environmental losses from home and abroad.
Pan elaborated on the five measures which have been taken to
minimize losses:
-- Removing vegetation from construction sites and restoring it
after finishing the work.
-- Building the line away from natural zones and confine
construction work to a smallest possible scope along the line. At
some sections, passages for wild life to migrate have been set
up.
-- Detouring around wetlands and lakes, and when impossible,
building bridges rather than roads to minimize the damage to land
surface.
-- Using heat preservation material to fill in the base to keep
a stable frozen earth layer along the line.
-- Minimize the number of stations along the line to reduce
human waste and installing water treatment facilities in every
station. Recycled water is forbidden from going into local
waterways directly.
(Xinhua News Agency September 25, 2004)