Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, July 17
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
The construction of the first (mining) tunnel in Tajikistan as part of the project for building the additional Branch D of the interstate Central Asia-China gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to China is being completed, Trend reports referring to Tajik media.
In turn, the Asia-Plus agency cited the words of the first deputy head of Tajiktransgaz OJSC Shavkat Shoimzoda. According to him, the construction of the Tajik section of the Central Asia-China gas pipeline will be carried out in 3 stages and will be completed in 2024.
The construction of several tunnels is envisaged at the first stage. The construction of the first tunnel, with a length of 1,560 meters, is now being completed.
The website of the Ministry of Energy of Tajikistan states that the new branch of this pipeline with a total length of 966 kilometers will pass from Turkmenistan through the territory of Uzbekistan (205 kilometers), Tajikistan (391 kilometers), Kyrgyzstan (215 kilometers) and China (155 kilometers).
The project will attract over $3 billion of direct investments by China in the economy of Tajikistan. The basis for the work is an agreement signed in March 2014 between China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Tajiktransgaz on the establishment of the joint venture of Trans-Tajik Gas Pipeline Company Ltd with equity participation of $300 million.
The project envisages the construction of 42 mountain tunnels with a total length of 63.3 kilometers and other infrastructure in Tajikistan. Within the country, the route will pass through the territories of the cities of Tursunzoda and Hisor and the districts of Shahrinaw, Rudaki, Vahdat, Faizobod, Nurobod, Rasht, Tojikobod and Lakhsh to the border of Kyrgyzstan.
Branch D will become an integral part of the Central Asia–China gas pipeline, complementing the existing branches A, B, and C - which run from Turkmenistan and pass through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Overall, upon completion, the total capacity will reach 85 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
The total length of the 3 existing branches is currently about 7,000 kilometers, while the total annual capacity of the pipe is measured at 55 billion cubic meters of gas.
More than 270 billion cubic meters of natural gas have been exported from Central Asia since the commissioning the interstate pipeline to China in December 2009, with more than 80 percent of the supply of fossil fuels being provided by Turkmenistan.