China starts construction of natural gas pipeline to Xiong'an New Area

Aerial photo taken on Dec. 27, 2020 shows the Xiong'an Railway Station at sunrise in Xiong'an New Area, north China's Hebei Province. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

BEIJING, April 13 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday commenced construction of its first natural gas pipeline bound for the Xiong'an New Area, according to the China Oil &Gas Piping Network Corporation.

With a total length of 413.5 km, the pipeline begins in north China's Tianjin Municipality and stretches to neighboring Hebei Province, where the new area is located, the company said.

Designed to have an annual transmission capacity of 6.6 billion cubic meters, the pipeline will require a total investment of 8.6 billion yuan (about 1.31 billion U.S. dollars).

China announced its plan to establish the Xiong'an New Area on April 1, 2017, aiming to relieve Beijing of functions non-essential to its role as the national capital and to advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

China's leadership has pledged to build Xiong'an into an innovative, green, smart and world-class city with blue skies, fresh air and clean water, and every inch of land in the area will be carefully planned.