The proposed Mount Everest highway is officially on hold, barring approval from environmental experts. The $20 million road was suppose to begin at the bottom of the mountain to the 17,060 foot base camp.

But some activists have expressed concern about the road's environmental impact on the region, where global warming is causing glacial retreat.

"We'll have to get the environmental specialists' analysis. After the analysis we will need to seek the approval of the authorities of the nature reserve of Mount Qomolangma," Hao Peng, vice chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, told reporters, using the Chinese name for Mount Everest.

Hao said it was not clear when a final decision on the road would be made. Workers were now repairing the existing road, and later an environmental impact assessment will be done, he said.

"Environmental protection authorities always have the right to veto this kind of project," Tibet vice chairman Nima Ciren said at the news conference.

The new highway was to be a major route for tourists and mountaineers, and officials have praised it as a way to make life easier for locals.

In April, organizers for the Beijing Summer Olympics announced ambitious plans for the longest torch relay in Olympic history - an 85,000-mile, 130-day route that would cross five continents and reach the 29,035-foot summit of Everest, the world's highest peak.

China says it has ruled Tibet for centuries, although many Tibetans say their homeland was essentially an independent state for most of that time. Chinese communist troops occupied Tibet in 1951, and Beijing continues to rule the region with a heavy hand.

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