BEIJING: * China has started to construct the middle part of the east line of a natural gas pipeline connecting Russia and northern China, state-backed China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Thursday* The 1,110-km pipeline starts from Changling in the northeastern province of Jilin and ends at Yongqing in Hebei province after going through the Inner Mongolia region, Liaoning province and the city of Tianjin, said CCTV
* The project is part of the 3,968-km China-Russia natural gas pipeline with an annual transmission capacity of 38 billion cubic metres, aiming to meet increasing demand in populous Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region
* The middle part is expected to complete by October 2020