Developers plan world’s highest airport in Tibet

China is preparing to break its own record by building the world’s highest airport in Tibet at 4,500 meters above sea level, Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday. 

The airport, planned in Nagqu Prefecture, would be 102 meters higher than Bamda Airport in Qamdo Prefecture. The Qamdo airport was built in 1994 and is the world’s highest, said Xu Bo, director of the Tibetan Branch of the China Civil Aviation Administration.

Xu Jian, director of the Nagqu Committee of Development and Reform, said the new airport was included in Tibet’s development plan though a site has not been selected.

 “Construction is planned for 211. It will take three years to complete and will cost 1.8 billion yuan,” he said.

The airport would cover 233 to 266 hectares.

The airport, with an exact elevation of 4,436 meters in the Himalayas where the temperature stays below zero throughout the year, would be Tibet’s sixth. It will be named Nagqu Dagring Airport after the area of its expected location.

“The civil aviation network in Tibet is shaping up. The objective for the next tage of development is to open direct air routes from Tibet to South Asian countries,” he said.

Nagqu, about 300 kilometers from the capital Lhasa, is in the center of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The prefecture is home to 400,000.

“With the airport, Nagqu, which is also on the Qinghai-Tibet railway line, may become an economic hub in the plateau region,” Tan Yongshou, commissioner of the prefecture, sai
The new airport is a part of a plan to boost economic growth in the region.

The Qinghai-Tibet railway, which at 5,072 meters is the world’s highest, connects Tibet to the rest of China and opened four years ago.The government is currently constructing six new rail lines in and around the region.

(By Han Manman)