The three sites under the maintenance program are the Potala Palace and Norbuglinka, the winter and summer palaces of the Dalai Lama, and the Sagya Monastery which contains valuable relics.

Both the Potala Palace and Norbuglinka are on the UNESCO's world cultural heritage list.

Li Guoyong, director of the office responsible for protection and repair of the three major cultural sites, said construction would start on a host of new tasks this year.

Tasks included maintenance of the Red Palace, for religious purposes, and repair of the White Palace for secular use.

Palaces for housing stupas of the Eighth and Ninth Dalai Lamas were also due for renovation.

Relocation of staff with Norbuglinka, and rebuilding of dormitories for lamas and warehouses for cultural relics with the Sagya Monastery were also planned.

A total of 60 million yuan (US$7.23 million) would be spent on the repairing work this year, said Li.

He said a good job would be done in restoring murals at the three cultural sites, treating timber used in the three sites to prevent moth attack and rot, as well as unearthing the moat encircling the southern part of the Sagya Monastery.

Li said that so far, resettlement of 358 households from the foot of the Potala Palace and from around Sagya Monastery to elsewhere had been finished.

Investigations into damage of the murals, indoor simulated experiments and related mid-term assessment work had been completed, while timber needed for repairing the three cultural sites had been procured and transported to the sites.

More repair tasks will be complete by the end of the year, such as the wall of Sagya Monastery, and the Northeastern Chapel of the Potala Palace, said Li.

Repair of the three cultural sites began in June last year.

The entire repair program will cost 333.3 million yuan (US$40.32 million), of which, 179.3 million yuan (US$21.6 million) will go towards repair of the Potala. The whole repair scheme will be completed within five years.

(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2003)