Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region plans to build 42,000 subsidized housing units in the 2011-2015 period, local authorities said Thursday.

Tibet is expected to invest about 2.22 billion yuan (about $348.98 million) of capital from both the central and local governments, said Wang Yalin, head of the regional department of housing and urban-rural development.

In the 2011-2015 period, Tibet will prioritize setting up the multi-level housing security system, which includes subsidized housing, low-rent housing, public rental housing and affordable housing, to meet both urban and rural housing needs, he said.

By the end of October, the construction of 15,500 units of subsidized housing will be underway.

Since 2007, Tibet has invested over 1.1 billion yuan (about $171.8 million) in building 10,800 low-rent housing units.

(Xinhua News Agency October 27, 2011)