China on Wednesday said it will build an airport in a Tibetan populated area in northwest Gansu province, which witnessed anti-government riots recently.The USD 100 million project would come up at Xiahe, 250 kms from Lanzhou, the provincial capital, in Gannan autonomous prefecture, the provincial reform and development commission said.“Preparations will start soon to pave the way for civil construction of Xiahe airport,” an official said.The airport, to be completed by 2010, would have a 3,000 m runway, the official was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.The project has been approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), the report said.Gannan prefecture is inhabited by 680,000 people, more than half of them Tibetans.The riots in Gannan had left 94 people injured after anti-government protests that broke first in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and spread to other Tibetan-inhabited areas.China had launched a rail link to Tibetan capital of Lhasa in 2006 at the highest altitude ever for a rail connectivity in a move it said was aimed at development of Tibet and promotion of tourism in the region.But the act was viewed with suspicion in some quarters as a step to facilitate settlement of majority Han Chinese and rapid troop movement and equipment.
