It was learned from the fifth session of the 8th Tibet Autonomous Region People's Congress being held in Lhasa that during the 11th five-year plan period, Tibet will speed up the construction of new socialistic rural areas and get down to solve issues of "farmers, agriculture and rural areas." Each year, the government of Tibet Autonomous Region will spend 100 million yuan (US$12.3 million) on the "housing project for farmers and herdsmen" and strive to enable 80% of its farmers and herdsmen to live in clean, comfortable and safe houses in five years.

Ding Ye, head of Tibet's Finance Bureau, indicated that during the 11th five-year plan period, Tibet will increase financial support for new rural area construction by appropriating 29.29 billion yuan of agriculture-related funds mainly for infrastructure construction, development of characteristic industries and development of social service in agricultural and pasturing areas. It will increase direct subsidy for farmers and herdsmen, and implement the "housing project for farmers and herdsmen" which focuses on renovation of farmers' houses, settlement of herdsmen and relocation of the poverty-stricken.

Ding added that the CPC committee of Tibet set the goal of providing 80% of its farmers and herdsmen with clean, comfortable and safe houses in five years. In order to achieve this goal, Tibet's Finance Bureau will further increase its financial support on the basis of 100 million yuan of annual budget and raise its total fund for the "housing project for farmers and herdsmen" to one billion yuan.