LHASA, July 31 -- China's central government invested 325.1 billion yuan (about 45.6 billion U.S. dollars) in road construction in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region from 1953 to 2023, the regional government's information office said Wednesday.

The total length of roads open to traffic in Xizang currently stands at 123,300 km, with paved roads accessing 666 townships and 4,596 administrative villages, the information office said at the press conference.

Xizang is the only provincial-level region in China where road construction is fully funded by the central government. Over the past 10 years, Xizang has implemented 5,805 projects for rural road construction and built or renovated 58,700 km of rural roads.

An official from the regional transportation department said that Xizang will continue to promote the construction of the expressway network and accelerate the connectivity of all cities and key land ports.