A multimillion dollar project to preserve the ruins of an ancient kingdom located in remote Tibet will help the mud-and-rock structure stand natural disasters and weather erosion, a local official said Sunday.

The project to protect the ruins of the tenth-century Guge Kingdom, located in western Tibet's Ngari Prefecture, started in May and is estimated to cost 57.4 million yuan (8.9 million U.S. dollars) in the coming five years, said Li Xingguo, head of the cultural bureau of Ngari prefecture government.

Li said workers will repair the ruins' structure and consolidate the soil of the surrounding rocky mountains in addition to preserving the ancient Buddhist murals in the caves.

The ruins suffered damages such as cracks on the walls and landslides over the past decades due to increased rainfall on the otherwise dry plateau land, Li said, adding that the project will "comprehensively" lift the ability of the ruins to withstand natural disasters.

The government previously conducted two "rescue preservation" projects to protect the ruins in 1985 and 1997.

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