China's massive project to transfer natural gas from the Tarim Basin of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region all the way to the coastal metropolis of Shanghai in the east will go into commercial operation on Dec. 30, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

The new project is expected to produce 12 billion cubic meters of gas annually in 2007, with a targeted volume of 17 billion cubic meters in the future.

The construction of the gigantic pipeline, the longest in the country, started in July, 2002, with the aim to transfer the abundant natural gas resources from western China to the energy-starved but industry-intensive eastern regions.

The trunk pipes of this project, approximately 4,000 kilometers, originates from the Tarim Basin of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to Baihe (White Crane) town of Shanghai, bypassing ten provinces and autonomous regions.

The project is more than an energy re-allocation scheme to the country, economists say, noting that it will be conducive to activating correlative industries and give an impetus to the growth of steel, cement, machine-building industries in the region along the pipelines.

It will boost economic development both in the under-developed West and the coastal east, they acknowledged. Of a total investment of 300 billion yuan (about 36 billion US dollars) in the pipeline construction, 34 billion yuan (some 4 billion U.S dollars) was given to the western areas, which has helped to create new supply and demand so as to offer more jobs to this relatively lagged-behind region.

The project, when fully operational, will bring an additional fiscal revenue of one billion yuan (about 121 million U.S. dollars) to Xinjiang each year.

Upon the completion of the project, China's natural gas output will be hiked by 50 percent, which will further alleviate China's long over-dependence on coals.