LHASA — In 2021, the total length of roads operational exceeded 120,000 km in Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region, local authorities said on March 17.

In Tibet, five townships and 67 administrative villages gained access to hard roads in 2021. This made hard roads reach to 94.55 percent of the region's total townships and 77.94 percent of the total administrative villages by the end of the year, according to the regional transport department.

Authorities in Tibet accelerated 15 key construction projects last year, including the middle section of the highway from the regional capital Lhasa to Xigaze.

Meanwhile the region completed preparations for the supporting project to transport labor and materials for the construction of the railway linking Tibet and its neighboring Sichuan province.

Tibet completed investment worth 20.1 billion yuan (about $3.2 billion) in fixed assets for road transport last year, said Xu Wenqiang, head of the department.

The department aims to complete investment in transport worth over 21.6 billion yuan in 2022.