The Chinese government will invest more than 1.7 billion yuan (about 267.58 million U.S. dollars) in a cultural relics preservation project in southwest China's Tibet autonomous region in the 2011-2015 period, local authorities said Wednesday.

The total is 300 million yuan more than the central government's entire invested capital for historic preservation in Tibet since the early 1980s, said Gyarab Losang Danzin, vice president of the regional government.

The project will cover three categories with 44 subprojects, including executing 40 cultural relics repair projects, building three new city museums and expanding the Tibet Museum.

"The historic preservation project in Tibet is China's relics preservation project with the highest specifications, most investment and largest scale," said Shan Jixiang, director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

In the past thirty years, China has put about 1.4 billion yuan toward maintaining and preserving cultural heritage, important historic sites and revolutionary heritage in Tibet.