Tibet will invest 300 million yuan (US$37.5 million) in the next five years to improve housing conditions for 25,000 households of farmers and herdsmen in its border areas.

The investment will be used to transform current clay or wooden houses into structures of both stone and wood, to make them more durable and comfortable, said Guo Jian, an official with the autonomous region's Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee.

Twenty-one counties and 110 towns in Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, with a population of about 360,000, are located near the frontier areas bordering such countries as India, Myanmar and Nepal.

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