The Chinese government has completed the relocation of 2,693 people from three Tibetan-majority townships to a new site in Pema Town, Pashoe County.

The relocation project has taken several years and was finished in July, Tibet Watch said. The relocated residents were from Kyari, Yangpa and Wa Townships. 99 percent of the population of each township is Tibetan according to the Tibet Township Index published by Tsering Wangyal Shawa in 2010.

The entire population of the three townships was moved by the government, which also offered incentives for people to move.

One of the buses used in the relocation programme. The writing on the side reads: “implementing the relocation programme, which leads to pleasant new homes.”

Officials told citizens it would benefit them economically to move, telling the residents of the “rare opportunity” of a better life compared with their present conditions. Authorities showcased modern schools, medical facilities and job opportunities to encourage them to move.

There have been several large-scale relocation programmes in Tibet in recent years, including the removal of millions of rural Tibetans from their pastures to urban settlements consisting of prefabricated houses.

Tibetans who have been forced to relocate have often seen their land used as the site for construction, mining or extraction projects.