China’s South Asia ‘bridgehead’ needs urgent infrastructure boost to aid security, mineral exploration
- Power grid and railway infrastructure improvements in a strategically important area of the Tibet autonomous region are urgently needed, says a ‘two sessions’ delegate
- Ngari prefecture, which borders India, ‘is an important transport and logistics hub in the western part of the country’, says Duan Xiangdong
China should address an urgent need for infrastructure construction in a strategically important part of its southwestern Tibet autonomous region – seen as a “bridgehead” to South Asia – to enhance national security and mineral exploration, according to the head of one of its largest aluminium producers.
“As a base for China’s mineral resources reserve, [Ngari prefecture] is an important transport and logistics hub in the western part of the country,” said Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference delegate Duan Xiangdong during the ongoing “two sessions” in Beijing.
“There is an urgent need [for the region] to enhance its infrastructure, such as electricity and transport.”
Located in the remote and high-altitude western region near India, Ngari prefecture grapples with a challenging terrain and harsh climate, which has hindered logistics and infrastructure development, further constraining its economic progress.
Relying solely on road transport results in long distances, high costs, and low efficiency
While the region had made progress in mineral exploration that has contributed to China’s reserves of strategic mineral resources over the past few years, progress has been crippled by inadequate infrastructure, Duan added.
“Currently, the electrical grid capacity in the region is insufficient to meet the demands of its economic and social development, particularly given the absence of railway lines,” he said, according to the Aluminum Corporation of China official website on Tuesday.
