Tibet village takes new turn after roadwork

Khenrab Tashi, front, a villager, in Kese village in Changdu of Tibet autonomous region at his home on Oct 19, 2014. [Photo by Ma Danning/chinadaily.com.cn]

Spotting an opportunity after sections of the 318 State Highway turned from bumpy dirt patch to asphalt road, Khenrab Tashi, a villager in Kese village in Changdu of Tibet autonomous region, launched a transportation business with his fellow villagers in 2009.

Within five years, people from more than 50 out of the village's 86 households have joined the team, with the 36 vehicles operated largely being trucks and vans that transport construction material.

"Our vehicles run from Changdu to Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan province. Our business also reaches Yunnan province and Qinghai province."

In 2013, the annual revenue generated by each vehicle ranged from 180,000 yuan ($29,400) to 300,000 yuan, with the whole team's yearly avenue topping five million yuan.

"In 1999, when sections of the 318 State Highway, including the one passing our village, were dirt roads, I earned about 5,000 yuan in the whole year driving a truck to transport construction material."

Originally an agricultural village, only three people in Kese village, including Tashi, engaged in transportation business in 2000.

"Work on the 318 State Highway began in 2000 and completed in 2001. Before the highway was re-laid, it took nine to 10 days to go from Changdu to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. Now it takes only three to five days."

"After the road was rebuilt, my transportation business saw a big jump. In 2005, I added another story to my one-story house."

In 2009, aiming to improve the villagers' common wealth, and believing that transportation business would deliver goods, Tashi established the team.

"Apart from our transportation team, some villagers also have smaller vans to engage in tourism. The road's renovation enabled the village, once cut off from mainstream tourists, to be more accessible to visitors," Tashi said.

"Our team donated one percent of our 2013 revenue, 50,000 yuan, to the government, who dispensed the money to the needy villagers," added Tashi.