China to invest $3.1 bln in Tibet projects - Xinhua

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will invest 21.17 billion yuan ($3.1 billion) 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 five industrial zones, with the new investments to provide more than 15,600 jobs, the report cited local commerce official Li Xia as saying.

"The 22 projects are expected to speed up development of other industrial fields and (help) comprehensive economic growth," it paraphrased Li as saying.

"Industrial development in Tibet had remained inactive for a long time and the sector only accounted for 7.5 percent of the region's overall gross domestic product last year, official statistics showed," Xinhua said.

Chinese aluminium and copper giant Aluminum Corp of China, or Chinalco, has already set up a unit to explore for minerals in Tibet.

Chinalco joins fellow Chinese miners Western Mining Co and Zijin Mining Group Co Ltd, which plan to begin production this month from the Yulong copper deposit, in southeastern Tibet, which is the largest in China.

A railroad to Lhasa, completed two years ago, will be extended to other areas of Tibet over the next few years, easing access for miners eager to get equipment in and metals out 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 labour and industry does little to benefit native Tibetans, while harming the plateau's fragile environment.

China has ruled Tibet with an iron hand since its troops marched in 1950.

The region was rocked by unrest earlier this year, and China blamed Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama for formenting the violence in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, charges he denied.