China's central government will invest 100 billion yuan ($12.9 billion) in projects in Tibet, including an extension of its first railway, the regional government announced on Monday.

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The money will be spent on 180 projects in the years up to 2010, including upgrading an airport; extending availability of drinking water, electricity and telephone lines to herding communities; and building a railway from regional capital Lhasa to Xigaze, the region's second-largest city, the Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

The projects -- also covering education, social security and environmental conservation -- would promote economic and social development, showing the central government's support for the region, said Xinhua.

The vice chairman of the regional government, Hao Peng, said the new wave of infrastructure investment would be tilted toward herding regions "so farmers and herders and the grassroots population will fully enjoy the fruits of reform and development."

Approved by the State Council, China's cabinet, in January, the projects would see 80 percent of Tibet's villages connected by road, safe drinking water for all its 2.76 million people and free education up to high school for all children, said Hao.

The construction of the region's fourth airport in the northern Ngari Prefecture was also included, said Hao, but he did not elaborate.

Though it had reported five consecutive years of GDP growth of more than 12 percent, Tibet remained one of China's most underdeveloped regions due to its harsh natural conditions and a weak economy, and it relied heavily on investment, said Qiangba Puncog, chairman of autonomous region.

The central government launched an aid program in Tibet in 1994, under which cadres from other parts of China are selected and sent to Tibet to work, and large sums are also invested in the region.

Between 1994 and 2005, the Chinese central government invested about 63 billion yuan ($8.1 billion) in large infrastructure projects in Tibet£¬including the Qinghai-Tibet railway.

The annual GDP growth of Tibet reached 13.4 percent last year, bringing the region's total GDP to a record 29 billion yuan (US$3.74 billion) with the per-capita GDP above US$1,000.

In addition, the annual per-capita net income of Tibetan farmers and herdsmen stood at 2,435 yuan (US$314) in 2006, an annual increase of 17.2 percent.

"We have set a target to raise the per-capita net income of farmers and herdsmen to the national average by 2010," said Puncog.