DUSHANBE, December 9, 2014, Asia-Plus -- Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) today ratified an agreement on the main principles of cooperation between the Government of Tajikistan and JV Trans-Tajik Gas Pipeline Company Ltd (TTGP).

Speaking at the Majlisi Namoyandagon session, Saidahmad Shamsiddinzoda, the head of Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Tojiktransgaz (Tajik state-run natural gas distributor), said that construction of the Tajik section of Line D of the China-Central Asia Gas Pipelines will start in April next year and will be completed in 2017.

According to him, Line D will begin operating in full capacity in January 2020.  “The Joint Venture (JV) Trans-Tajik Gas Pipeline Company Ltd (TTGP) has been launched for construction of the Tajik section of Line D,” said Shamsiddinzoda.  “The sides will contribute 300 million U.S. dollars each to the project.  The Tajik side has taken a loan o 300 million USD from a bank in Hong Kong.  The loan carries an annual interest of 2.7 percent is payable in 26 years,” Tojiktransgaz top manager noted.  

Tajikistan is expected to gain some $4.5 bln from the project over 32 years, Shamsiddinzoda said.

He further added that estimated budget for construction of the Tajik side of Line D was 3.2 billion USD.  The project provides for construction of 45 tunnels with a total length of 75 kilometers and other infrastructure.  The project will create more than 3,000 jobs in Tajikistan, Shamsiddinzoda noted.  

Meanwhile Xinhua reports that the 1000-km-long Line-D, one of China''s major energy cooperation projects in Central Asia, is expected to be completed in 2016.

Among all countries the pipeline travels through, Tajikistan has the longest section of about 410 kilometers.

In Tajikistan, the gas pipeline will run through Tursunzoda, Shahrinav, Hisor, Roudaki, Vahdat, Fayzobod, Nourobod, Rasht and Jirgatol to Kyrgyzstan’s border.

We will recall that Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the construction commencement ceremony of the Tajikistan section of Line-D of the China-Central Asia Gas Pipelines on September 13, 2014.  The ceremony took place in the Roudaki district.

Line D is the fourth in the pipeline network.  The current pipeline network comprising lines A, B and C passes through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan before reaching China''s western Xinjiang province.

In November 2011, Ashgabat agreed to send an additional 25 billion cubic meters/year of gas to China, bringing total volumes to 65 billion cu m/year by 2020. Some of the additional gas supplies would come from the supergiant Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan, which both sides agreed to jointly develop last year.

The latest agreement with Tajikistan was signed in Dushanbe between Chinese ambassador to Tajikistan Fan Xianrong and Tajikistan''s First Deputy Minister of Energy and Water Resources Sulton Rahimov in March this year.

A broad agreement for the project was then signed with Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan during President Xi Jinping''s visit to Central Asia in September 2013.

Turkmenistan began delivering gas to China in late 2009.

By the end of China''s 13th Five Year Plan in 2020, all four lines in the network will be able to supply China with 80 billion cu m/year of gas, accounting for at least 40% of China''s total imported gas supplies.

We will recall that Tajikistan had received natural gas from Uzbekistan until 2013.  Uzbekistan suspended gas deliveries via pipeline to Tajikistan on December 31, 2012 after both sides failed to agree on gas prices following the expiration of their contract.  Uzbekistan, Tajikistan''s only supplier of gas, routinely suspends gas deliveries to its neighbor amid complaints of nonpayment.