BEIJING, Oct 27 (Reuter) - China will spend two billion yuan ($241 million) and mobilise soldiers to repair a 3,000-km (1,900-mile) highway linking southwestern Sichuan province and Tibet, Xinhua news agency said on Friday.

The army will be mobilised because of the "extreme difficulty of the mission," Xinhua said. Work is due to be completed in 1999. The highway, built in the 1950s, is one of three linking the Himalayan region to the rest of China and has contributed to the development of Tibet, the agency said.

Maintenance has been difficult because of the region's high altitude and bad weather and the highway is no longer able to meet the development needs of Sichuan and Tibet, Xinhua said. It gave no further details.