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China to build highway to Everest base camp

Pallavi Aiyar

It will be completed before Beijing Olympics

— Photo: AP

Another feat: Participants of "Everest Marathon” line up for the start off from base camp in this file photo. China plans to build a highway on the side of Mount Everest.

Beijing: Less than a year after the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet railway, China confirmed plans for construction of yet another engineering feat: a 110-km black-topped tarmac road to the Everest base camp.

The construction will be completed before August 2008, in time for the Beijing Olympics, the Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Government Qiangba Puncog told a press conference on Wednesday. Mt. Everest is part of China’s planned route for the Olympic torch relay.

Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, said the project, scheduled to start as early as next week, would cost around 150 million yuan ($19.5 million). While its initial purpose is to smooth the route for the relay, plans are afoot to use the road later in developing the Everest into a tourist resort.

“More tourists are flocking to the Qomolangma [Mt. Everest] base camp in the recent two years,” said Mr. Puncog. “Tourists from Europe and America in particular like to have a glimpse of Mount Qomolangma.” The project aims at turning what is a rough road linking the Tingri county of Xigaze Prefecture at the foot of the mountain and the base camp, located at a breathtaking altitude of 5,200 metres, into a broad highway fenced by undulating guard rails.

The plan has sparked off a torrent of criticism with environmentalists decrying its impact on the region’s fragile economy. They argue that the influx of tourists will lead to more burning of fuel, more construction and more garbage. Already large parts of the plateau’s glaciers are thought to be in danger of melting.

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