China yesterday officially started the mammoth US$8.9 billion
pipeline project to transport natural gas from Northwest China's
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Shanghai on the east coast
of China.
The 4,000-kilometre pipeline will run from the Tarim Basin, in the
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, through eight provinces and
regions and cross China's two largest rivers - the Yellow and the
Yangtze rivers - before reaching Shanghai.
President Jiang Zemin yesterday wrote a letter congratulating the
official start of the project, which will help satisfy the rapidly
growing demand for energy on the wealthy eastern coast as well as
boost investment in the nation's relatively poor western
regions.
Calling the project an important step in the country's western
development campaign, the president said he believed the project
would contribute to the improvement of the lives of the people
living in the vast Xinjiang region.
Moreover, the clean-burning natural gas the pipeline will carry
should also help upgrade the energy structure of Shanghai and other
prosperous cities in the Yangtze River delta, he said.
One of the bottlenecks in the development of the delta, one of
China's most economically advanced regions, has been the lack of an
adequate supple of clean energy.
It
is for this reason that the Xinhua News Agency applauded the
project yesterday as heralding a new "clean energy era" for the
delta, which will be able to say goodbye not only to the shortage
of energy impeding economic growth, but also to the pollution from
coal-burning industries.
Premier Zhu Rongji also hailed the start of the project. He
emphasized the opening up of the west-east gas project to foreign
co-operation, which should include gas prospecting, gas extraction,
and construction of the pipeline and its auxillary facilities.
Zhu made his remarks when meeting with representatives from the
international giants, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Russia's gas
monopoly Gazprom and Exxon Mobil Corp, after they had signed an
agreement with China to participate in the huge cross-country gas
pipeline.
This project will be the largest ever opened to foreign
co-operation, said Zhu.
The premier expressed his wish that smooth co-operation between the
Chinese construction contractors and their foreign partners would
bring about the building of a pipeline that is up to the highest
international standards.
Walter van de Vijver from the Royal Dutch/Shell Group and others
said they are confident of the success of the project and will work
closely with PetroChina Co on the basis of equality and mutual
benefit.
Also yesterday, Vice-Premier Wu Bangguo, who is in special charge
of the project, urged related local governments to be fully
mobilized for the project - the expected future economic artery of
the country.
The pipeline, carefully designed and built to the highest quality,
should give new growth momentum to all local areas it passes
through, sparking new ways to reinvigorate the economy and
life.
(China
Daily July 5, 2002)