Construction of the line D of the China - Central Asia pipeline for Turkmen gas supplies through Tajikistan promotes the formation of mutually beneficial economic zone, Director General of this project Liu Tao reported to the Chinese media.

"This route will link China and the five Central Asian countries, and will become the new Silk Road," said Tao.

The length of the line D is about 1000 kilometers, of which 410 kilometers will stretch from the West to the East via the territory of Tajikistan, he said in an interview with the online edition of "Zhenminvan".

The new branch begins at the border of Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, runs through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and enters the territory of China through the Ulugchat County.

"Along with the promotion of economic development in the countries of Central Asia, this branch will also play an important role in ensuring the security of energy resources in China," the Chinese businessman thinks.

It is known that 93 percent of the surface of Tajikistan comprise of the highlands, so the construction will have a lot of difficulties, the pipeline will pass through 47 percent of rivers and 76 kilometers of tunnels.

"Despite the fact that the degree of complexity of the construction is quite high, line D gives a huge boost to the development of the economic zone of the Silk Road and the Central Asian economies," said Liu Tao.

China's CNPC has bought gas in Central Asia since 2009. Purchases began after the launch of the first two branches of the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan pipeline (A and B). The third branch (C) of the pipeline along the same route was put into operation in June this year.

An agreement on increase of gas supply up to 65 billion cubic meters in 2020 was signed between China and Turkmenistan, and the fourth branch (D) of the pipeline through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan is being built for that purpose.