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cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td height="45" align="center" class="Font0 Font4 Size4">Train to Tibet brings in Investment </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center" class="Font0">2010-11-29 9:59:09</td> </tr> <tr> <td height="10" align="left"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left"><P class=style30>A year after the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, Songtsen Gyalzur believes it's time to invest in a five-star hotel in his hometown. </P> <P class=style30 align=left>The proposed site of the six-million-US-dollar project is close to the railway station in Tibet's regional capital Lhasa. "The railway has created favorable conditions and I feel the time is ripe to make the investment," said the 34-year-old Tibetan who grew up in Switzerland. </P> <P class=style30 align=left>Songtsen Gyalzur said he weighed the risks of investment in a previous visit to Lhasa seven years ago. "I dropped the plan when I saw there were no trains and very few tourist arrivals at the only airport in Lhasa." </P> <P class=style30 align=left>The 2006 inauguration of the 1,142-kilometer railway linking Lhasa with Golmud in neighboring Qinghai Province has reignited his desire to invest in his ancestral home. </P> <P class=style30 align=left>"I've witnessed great changes in Tibet this time," he said. "With more tourists coming, there's a stronger demand for better accommodation." </P> <P class=style30 align=left>The railway has brought an influx of tourists, more than 2.5 million last year, including 154,800 from overseas. They spent 2.77 billion yuan in the region. </P> <P class=style30 align=left>This year Tibet expects to host three million tourists bringing in 3.4 billion yuan, according to the development and reform commission of the Tibet autonomous regional government. </P> <P class=style30 align=left>"The railway has not just linked Tibet with the rest of China, but also aroused our strong desire to return to China and make an investment," said Songtsen Gyalzur, board chairman of Generalista AG, a Swiss company working on worldwide real estate and construction projects. </P> <P class=style30 align=left>He also plans to set up a Lhasa branch of his company, which has operations in Thailand, Austria and Italy.</P> <P class=style30 align=left>Thanks to the railway, Tibet received four billion yuan (US$513 million) of domestic and overseas investment last year, said He Benyun, vice director of the regional development and reform commission. </P> <P class=style30 align=left>The amount was close to the total of the previous five years, which amounted to 5.1 billion yuan (US$656 million) between 2001 and 2005, he said. </P> <P class=style30 align=left>Since the opening of the railway on July 1, 2006, Tibet has approved the establishment of 20 overseas-funded businesses, bringing in 34.34 million U.S. dollars of contractual investment. </P> <P class=style30 align=left>The regional government said the investment has largely gone into tourism, hotels, trade, the food and beverage and pharmacy industries. </P> <P class=style30 align=left>"In a year or two, Lhasa will have four or five five-star hotels," said Zhang Bifang, vice director of the city's investment promotion bureau. "Nepalese and Indian businesses have invested in carpet plants here and KFC is planning to open outlets on the plateau." </P> <P class=style30 align=left>A 15,000-square-meter area close to the Lhasa railway station has been leveled for the new hotel, which is to adopt traditional Tibetan styles on the exterior, but European-style furnishings within. "We'll employ Tibetans to fill most of the jobs." </P> <P class=style30 align=left>Amid international concern over Tibet's pristine ecosystems, Songtsen Gyalzur said he would give top priority to environment protection. "The hotel will be surrounded with green." </P> <P class=style30 align=left>He described the railway as a feat that amazed many of his Swiss friends. </P> <P class=style30 align=left>"The opening of the railway caught the attention of all Tibetans living in Switzerland," said his mother Damzhin Gyalzur. "Many are keen on a train ride back to their hometown." </P> <P class=style30 align=left>At 54, Damzhin Gyalzur runs an orphanage on the western outskirts of Lhasa. Established in 1993, it is home to nearly 200 Tibetan orphans. </P><SPAN class=style30>The 4.1-billion-US-dollar Qinghai-Tibet railway stretches 1,956 km from Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, to Lhasa. The section of 814 km from Xining to Golmud opened in 1984 and construction of the Golmud-Lhasa section started on June 29, 2001. </SPAN> <P class=style47 align=left>Source: Xinhua New<BR></P></td> </tr> </table> <div> </div> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </td> </tr> </table> <script language="javascript" src="../../wzfoot.js"></script> </BODY> </HTML>