BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Tibet has made it a priority to improve the living conditions of farmers and herdsmen by building new houses for the majority of them and displacing a small number from areas with difficult natural conditions, said a top regional official on Wednesday.

    The region has displaced some 7,000 people who lived at the source of the Yangtze River and is preparing to relocate dozens of households from the core area of the Hol Xil Natural Reserve in the border areas between Tibet and Qinghai Province, said Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the autonomous regional government at a press conference in Beijing.

    The relocation is in line with the will of the herdsmen, not a forced one, he emphasized.

    As a key part of the housing project, around 290,000 farmers and herdsmen moved to new houses in the region last year, he said.

    Most of the new houses in the pasture lands were built where the farmers and herdsmen have been living, he said. Herdsmen in the region used to live with livestock in poorly built old houses.

    "The central government has not asked Tibet to pursue a fast economic growth. The success of the region's economic and social development should be judged by the improvement of the people's living and production conditions," the chairman said.