DUSHANBE (Avesta news agency) — Deputy Minister of Energy and Water Resources of Tajikistan Jamshed Shaimzoda declared that the actual execution of the project for laying the proposed Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline began in Tajikistan.

According to him, after the design, certain parts of the work, including preparatory work, began in the Rudaki district:

There are no problems with the project, and the construction of the pipeline in the Tajik sector will proceed on the basis of actual financing. Earlier there were certain prolongations of the project at the level of the heads of Tajikistan and China.

.

Earlier it was reported that the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) subsidiary is engaged in the construction of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline through the territory of Tajikistan.

The intergovernmental agreement on the construction of this gas pipeline was signed in September 2013. In March 2014, an agreement was signed between CNPC and Tajiktransgaz on the establishment of a joint venture for the construction and operation of the gas pipeline Trans-Tajik Gas Pipeline Company Ltd. The ceremony to begin construction of the Tajik site was held in September 2014. However, the immediate implementation of the project was postponed.

In December 2014, during the ratification of the agreement in the Majlisi Namoyandagon (مجلس نمایندگان, lower house of parliament) on the basic principles of cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan and the JV of Trans-Tajik Gas Pipeline Company Ltd, the then chairman of the Tajiktransgaz OJSC Saidakhmad Shamsiddinzoda said that the gas pipeline would start operating at full design capacity since January 2020:

To implement the project, the Tajik-Chinese joint company Trans-Tajik Gas Pipeline Company Ltd was set up with a stake of $300 mln. To this end, the Tajik side took a loan of $300 mln in Hong Kong for a period of 26 years at 2.7%/year.

The interest of the Tajik government in the project is to get taxes, create jobs and a friend. For example, the income of the joint venture will be $15 bln within 32 years. Of this amount, Tajikistan will receive $1.2 bln from a single tax (excluding social tax) and another $2.5 bln from dividends from shares,

Shamsiddinzoda also reported that the cost of the Tajik section of the project would be $3.2 bln. The project envisages the construction of 45 tunnels, a total length of 75 km, and another infrastructure. More than 3,000 Tajik citizens will be employed by the project.

On the territory of Tajikistan, the route will pass from Tursunzadevo region through Gissar, Shakhrinav, Rudaki, Vahdat, Faizabad, Nurabad, Rasht district, Tajikabad and Jirgatal to the border of Kyrgyzstan. The length of this Tajik section is more than 400 km. It is expected to be commissioned at the end of next year.

25-30 blnm³ of gas will be delivered from Turkmenistan to China annually. The implementation of this project will attract more than $3 bln of Chinese direct investment in the economy of Tajikistan.