09 September 2007
No permanent buildings around Qinghai Lake
(Xinhua) Officials in Qinghai have announced measures to prevent the environment around the Qinghai Lake (Mong: Koko Nor; Tib: Tso Ngonpo), from deteriorating. "Not only the projects under construction, but also existing hotels and restaurants will all be demolished", said Jetik Majil, vice governor of Qinghai. Under a new plan for tourism development around the lake, which is expected to be implemented next year, permanent buildings including hotels, restaurants and tourism service facilities will be relocated to an "accommodation zone" at least three kilometres away from the southern bank of the lake, Jetik said. According to Dong Lizhi, deputy manager-general of the Qinghai Lake Tourism Development Co., Ltd., more than 890,000 people visited the lake in 2006 and by July this year, the lake had received more than 500,000 tourists; the figure was expected to hit one million by the end of the year.