China's highest-altitude heating project in Tibet will be operational by October, it was announced on Thursday during the regional "two sessions," the meetings of the local legislature and political advisory body.
Heating will cover Nagqu Town, which is at an altitude of more than 4,500 meters in Nagqu Prefecture, north Tibet.
Nagqu falls within the sub-frigid zone, and has an annual mean temperature of about 2 degrees Celsius, with the lowest temperature tumbling to as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius.
Over 70 percent of the heating project has been completed, and trials across Nagqu have been successful.
The heating project will mean 200,000 residents, nearly half of the total population in Nagqu, will no longer need to burn cow dung pats for warmth.
In 2013, the local government invested 1.15 billion yuan (176 million U.S. dollars) in projects like central heating, water supply and drainage, and sewage treatment in Tibet, according to Li Hongwei, director of Nagchu Prefecture Development and Reform Commission.
Another heating project is under construction in Ngari Prefecture, about 1,500 kilometers east of Nagqu. Homes in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet, were connected to the central heating network in 2014.
