The highway from Gar county to Zanda county in Ngari, for example, must climb over Long Gala mountain, more than 4,700 meters above sea level.

Zheng said work can only be done from May to September, while the rest of the time the earth is too frozen to dig.

"If a road can be finished in three years in Zanda, the same length of road can be finished within one year in Beijing," Zheng said, adding that even from May to September, the temperature at night is below zero, which is too cold to keep warm with even three quilts.

The cost of 1 kilometer of road built in Zanda is about 900,000 yuan, while 1 kilometer of road in cities like Beijing costs about 600,000 yuan.

Jamyang Tsering, deputy director of the information and press office of the Ngari prefecture, told China Daily the road that Zheng and 40 other team members are building will cut the four-hour trip to two hours.

Lungtok Gyatso, a 23-year-old driver from Suomai village, Ngari prefecture, benefits a lot from the road construction.

"Although the petrol costs 8 yuan a liter, about 2 yuan more than before, the petrol cost will still be much less after the road is built, because the travel is shorter and the road is flatter," he smiled.

Convenient transportation is also bringing business opportunities and boosting tourism.

Cheng Xinming, deputy director of the business and trading bureau in Gar county, told China Daily that the major difficulty for local economic development is that the road is not smooth, adding that the updated transportation system will bring dramatic changes to Ngari.

For example, Zanda has the world-famous Guge Kingdom and Zanda Clay Forests, attracting millions of tourists from home and abroad.

"The improvement in transportation, especially the opening of the No 219 highway and the Gunsa airport from Lhasa to Shiquanhe, Ngari prefecture, will see the number of tourists double by the end of this year," said Jigme Wangchuk, director of the tourism bureau in Zanda county.

On the only way to Yarlung Zangbo River, Tarong county authorities are applying for the road construction from Tarong county to the river - more than 200 km - further triggering local tourism, said Migmar Tenzin, head of the Tarong county government.

It is estimated that by the end of 2015, the length of roads in Tibet will grow into 70,000 km, including five State-level highways, said Zhao Shijun, head of the Tibet transport bureau.

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