LHASA -- Construction on the first technical college in Tibet autonomous region started in Lhasa, the region's capital, on Tuesday, according to the regional human resources and social security department.

With an investment of 1 billion yuan (about $145 million), the college is expected to be built and put into use in 2020.

Covering about 25.3 hectares, the college is scheduled to enroll 5,000 students and have over 10,000 people trained in the short and medium terms annually.

The college will provide more than 20 technical majors including vehicle repair, computer network technology, architectural engineering technology and ethnic art, to cultivate technical professionals at different levels.

Meanwhile, it will also offer training courses, host examinations and give evaluations for professional technicians.

The college will fill a vacancy, help improve technical education in the plateau area and relieve the technical talent shortage in this Southwest China region, said Li Fuzhong, director of the department.