BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The sparsely-populated Tibet has no plan for building expressways, which are both unnecessary and difficult for the moment, said Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet autonomous regional government, on Wednesday.

    Most parts of the southwestern autonomous region are sparsely populated and have little traffic flow to demand expressways, he told a press briefing on Tibet's social and economic development.

    Yet with the strong support and financial aid from the central government, the regional government is determined to step up with construction of "high-class highways" and will turn 80 percent of all the roads into blacktops by 2010, he said.

    By then, highways will be extended into 100 percent of Tibet's townships and counties and 80 percent of all its administrative villages, he said.

    The central government has earmarked more than 30 billion yuan on Tibet's road construction for the 2006-2010 period, he said.

    "In all our road projects, we'll ensure the environment is properly protected," said Puncog. "We'll protect the environment in the same way as we protect our own eyes."