In the deep autumn of northern Xizang, the coldness cannot dampen the enthusiasm of ongoing project construction.

At the site of the Ando Tushuo 100MW CSP Project, a heated shed has been erected for the large-volume concrete pouring of the evaporation pond, equipped with warming and covering facilities, with dedicated staff taking temperature readings 24/7.

For the 100MW wind power project in Yueba Township, Karub District, concrete is wrapped in quilts for heat preservation during transportation, and hoisting operations are scheduled to avoid gales and snowfall.

On the in-plant road section of a certain hydropower station, subgrade anti-freezing measures, backfill quality control, and temporary road overwintering maintenance are being carried out simultaneously.

In the first three quarters of this year, the region's GDP reached 231.855 billion yuan, marking a 6.2% year-on-year growth, 1.6 percentage points higher than the national average. The added value of the secondary industry rose by 10.1%, and the added value of industries above designated size increased by 20.9%, 1.1 percentage points faster than the January-August figure.

Behind these figures, one question cannot be avoided: how to ensure investment does not only generate temporary workloads, but also settle into long-term industrial support? The answer lies in structural changes.

In the first three quarters, fixed asset investment in Xizangsaw a 2.9% year-on-year decline. This is a pressure that must be squarely faced in economic operations, and it also means that stabilizing investment still has tough battles ahead.

In Xizang, investment must not only deliver "physical output", but also feature "innovation content" and "green content", and ultimately be deeply integrated into industrial development.

Energy and power data offer a window to observe this transformation. In the first three quarters, the added value of Xizang's power and heat production and supply industries increased by 23.7% year-on-year, driving the growth of added value of industries above designated size by 3.1 percentage points.

Meanwhile, the total power generation of industries above designated size hit 15.37 billion kWh, up 29.1%. Hydropower generation rose by 31.1%, and solar power generation increased by 20.6%, together accounting for 94.6% of the total.

While the power generation side grows rapidly, the power consumption is also expanding in tandem. Total social electricity consumption reached 14.405 billion kWh, up 15.7% year-on-year. This not only reflects the growth of the clean energy industry, but also the rising energy demand for production and daily life.

The accelerated construction of power sources, power grids and other projects is translating Xizang's resource endowments into power supply capacity.

After the Xianghe and Laluo Water Control Projects were put into operation, water flows through canals to farmlands, and also into more links of industrial development. Since its trial operation in 2021, the Laluo Project has supplied approximately 700 million cubic meters of water to the four major irrigation areas and the Zhufeng Cultural and Creative Park in Xigaze by the end of September 2026, irrigating about 210,900 mu of cultivated land annually. The afforestation survival rate in the irrigation area has risen from 65% before water diversion to over 85%, attracting agricultural product processing, landscaping and other enterprises to settle in.

The same logic applies to transportation infrastructure. After the opening of Ali Pulan Airport, local residents enjoy more convenient travel, family visits, medical treatment and education, and tourism now has the conditions to be converted into consumption capacity. As of October 29, the airport has handled over 27,200 passenger trips and 468 takeoffs and landings this year; Pulan County has received more than 1.36 million tourists, with tourism revenue reaching 1.83 billion yuan.

Of course, a completed reservoir does not automatically make the irrigation area prosperous, and an operational airport does not naturally drive thriving industries.

Xizang has advantages in developing the digital economy, such as clean energy and favorable climatic conditions, but also faces constraints including limited market size, shortage of professional talents and insufficient application scenarios. To maximize the benefits of the "Yajiang No.1" project, it is necessary to integrate computing power with real demands in plateau ecological protection, agriculture and animal husbandry, cultural tourism, medical care and other fields, so that data can be used more efficiently and applications can be rolled out faster, driving enterprises in the park to grow from settling in to taking root.

In terms of progress, the region's key projects in the first three quarters are advancing in an orderly manner towards the annual target of over 244 billion yuan in completed investment, with substantial physical workloads formed in energy, transportation, water conservancy, computing power and people's livelihood sectors. The proportion of industrial investment and private investment continues to rise.

At present, the construction window in the fourth quarter overlaps with low-temperature weather, making it even more necessary to coordinate progress, quality and safety. By solving problems project by project and ensuring support link by link, we can turn the "construction blueprint" into a tangible reality.

This year, the region has allocated 13.6 billion yuan from central subsidies and regional fiscal revenue to support 34 key livelihood initiatives. A total of 550 million yuan is arranged for heating subsidies at the city and county level. The annual per-student subsidy standard for the "Three Guarantees" education policy has been raised by 240 yuan, and the per-student standard for free preschool education in agricultural and pastoral areas has been increased from 380 yuan to 1,000 yuan.

To evaluate development quality, we should not only look at the output value growth in normal times, but also check whether we can ensure smooth operation, stable supply and people's livelihood security in critical moments. According to Yang Jie, disaster prevention and mitigation facilities, emergency support capabilities and basic public services serve as the foundation for development in peacetime, and become the reliable support for the public in emergencies. By delivering these "invisible investments" with solid quality, Xizang's economy will not only maintain a sound growth rate, but also gain stronger risk resilience.

Reporter:Li Meiying

Translator: Peng Qing, Liu Fang

Reviewer: Hu Rongguo, Li Chengye