In winter, the blue sky is lofty and cloudless in Lhasa.

On January 26, 2014, hundreds of party officials and resident representatives from all walks of life gathered at Langsai Garden to attend the Summarization Conference of Lhasa City Heating System Project, witnessing the significant historic moment.

As scheduled, the Heating System Project in Lhasa City has been successfully wrapped up after two years’ operation, fully covering the whole city area. From then on, people in Lhasa would bid a farewell to the traditional heating pattern, which is heavily dependent on the burning cow dung and wood; and safe, secure and convenient natural gas would contribute to their life. Hence, the long-awaited modern heating amenity connects to all households in Lhasa, guarding the freezing winter off the city.

A Timely Decision-making

As located at the snow-covered plateau at an elevation of 3650 meters, the nights in Lhasa are very chilly in winter. Yet, heating supply in city areas has always remained something beyond the reach of Tibet including its capital city Lhasa, since the area was constricted by, among others, a weak economic foundation and scarce resource reserves. Previously, while some families in the areas resorted to electric heaters, some relied on coal or cow dung for heating. However, such means were not only poor in comfort, but, to certain degree, caused energy waste and environmental pollution.

Yet, Tibet has always been the focus of attention of the nation. No people will left alone and cold in the region. As part of its consistent efforts to enhance people’s living conditions in Tibet, the central government has attached great significance to the progress of the heating program in Lhasa area. In December 2011, Mr. Chen Quanguo, the Secretary of the Party of Tibet Autonomous Region, made a special report on accelerating the construction of heating system in the city area of Lhasa. Li Keqiang, Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and the Vice Premier of the State Council put forward a requirement in a written instruction, asking National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development to extend full support to the project. Deeply encouraged by the supports from the top authority of the nation, Mr. Chen made it clear that the heating system in city areas must make accessible to 40% of local residents in Lhasa at the end of 2012 and to all at the end of 2013. With the solid support of the central government, and under the strong leadership of Tibet party committee and government, the project’s preparation efforts were progressing in an orderly way as supervised by Qi Zhala, the Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of Tibet Autonomous Region, and Secretary of Lhasa Municipal Party Committee. On April 28, 2012, the eye-catching project kicked off in Lhasa.