China plans to speed up the construction of a new gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Tajikistan, according to the executive body of the Dushanbe (Tajikistan) government.
The issue was discussed during the meeting He Lifeng, vice premier of China's State Council, with Rustami Emomali, speaker of Tajikistan's upper house of parliament and mayor of Dushanbe, who is in Beijing on an official visit.
"It was considered necessary to attract modern Chinese investment and technology in the development of the energy sector in Tajikistan, and to accelerate the construction of Line D of the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan-China gas pipeline," the press release said.
Experts told Daryo that about 400 of the 966km of the pipeline would have to pass through Tajikistan's difficult mountainous terrain - where more than forty tunnels would have to be dug.
If successful, annual Turkmen gas supplies to China could rise to 65bn cubic metres from the current 40bn. This pipeline, like the three previous branches (through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan), will be independently built by CNPC, which will become their full-fledged owner.
Credits: Eziz Boyarov
Comments (0)