BEIJING (Reuters) - China will invest 21.17 billion yuan (1.5 billion pounds) by 2013 in a series of industrial projects to promote development in the restive and remote Himalayan region of Tibet, the official Xinhua news agency said on Friday.
That will include 10 mining projects and setting up fiveindustrial zones, with the new investments to provide more than15,600 jobs, the report cited local commerce official Li Xia assaying.
"The 22 projects are expected to speed up development ofother industrial fields and (help) comprehensive economicgrowth," it paraphrased Li as saying.
"Industrial development in Tibet had remained inactive fora long time and the sector only accounted for 7.5 percent ofthe region's overall gross domestic product last year, officialstatistics showed," Xinhua said.
Chinese aluminium and copper giant Aluminium Corp of China,or Chinalco, has already set up a unit to explore for mineralsin Tibet.
Chinalco joins fellow Chinese miners Western Mining andZijin Mining Group, which plan to begin production this monthfrom the Yulong copper deposit, in southeastern Tibet, which isthe largest in China.
A railroad to Lhasa, completed two years ago, will beextended to other areas of Tibet over the next few years,easing access for miners eager to get equipment in and metalsout to fuel China's rapidly growing economy.
China says the railway will help boost Tibet's economy,while many Tibetan activists say the influx of Chinese labourand industry does little to benefit native Tibetans, whileharming the plateau's fragile environment.
China has ruled Tibet with an iron hand since its troopsmarched in 1950.
The region was rocked by unrest earlier this year, andChina blamed Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama forfermenting the violence in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics,charges he denied.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard, Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
