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Audit Result on Environmental Protection Along Qinghai-Tibet Railway Released

Posted on: Thursday, 30 March 2006, 09:00 CST

Audit result on environmental protection along Qinghai-Tibet railway released

BEIJING, March 29 (Xinhua) -- The National Audit Office on Wednesday released the full results of its audit on fund implementation for environmental protection along the Qinghai-Tibet railway on www.gov.cn.

The audit work was based on an investment plan for the Qinghai- Tibet railway construction, issued by the State Development and Reform Commission, and the Qinghai-Tibet railway environmental impact evaluation report, which was adopted by the State Environmental Protection Administration and the Ministry of Water Resources.

In order to reduce the negative impact of the railway construction on the lives of wild animals, 33 passageways were built for wild animals to cross the railway. By June 2005, all the passageways had been completed. Auditors assessed four passageways, saying that the construction quality met the required technical standards.

According to the observation by the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2003, more than 400 antelopes came to Hoh Xil via passageways for reproduction. The figure increased to more than 1,500 in 2005. In the past, antelopes would only cross the railway after several days, but now they cross the railway within an hour.

"All the facts prove that the antelopes have adapted to the existence of the railway," the bulletin said.

In a bid to ensure the solidity of the railway in the frozen earth areas, more bridges were built. Auditors found that all the bridges had been completed to a high standard by June 2005, the bulletin said.

The bulletin said the government planned to input 1.54 billion yuan (193million U.S. dollars) for environmental protection along the Qinghai-Tibet railway, accounting for 4.6 percent of the total railway investment. By June 2005, 1.45 billion yuan (181 million U.S. dollars) of investment had been implemented and no problems were discovered by auditors in the fund implementation, the bulletin said.

Construction on the Qinghai-Tibet railway, from Golmud to Lhasa, started in June 2001 and stretched 1,142 kilometers.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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