NOssetia-Tskhinval pipeline filled with gas - official

TSKHINVAL, August 25 (Itar-Tass) - The pipeline running from North
Ossetia's Dzuarikau to Tskhinval, South Ossetia, is already filled with
gas, acting First Deputy Prime Minister of South Ossetia Khasan Pliyev
told Itar-Tass.
"The golden joint," welded in the area of the Kudarsky Pass, the
highest point through which the pipeline runs, connected the northern and
southern parts of the gas pipeline. This completes the construction of the
gas pipeline. It has already been connected to Tskhinval's gas
distribution network. Gas has already reached Tskhinval; and all the works
have been completed on schedule," Pliyev noted.
The gas pipeline is to be commissioned on August 26, the day when
Russian recognized the independence of the republic of South Ossetia.
Taking part in the festivities to mark the occasion will be
representatives of Gazprom and Russian officials. Some 350 builders who
participated in the pipeline construction will receive decorations for
good work.
The construction of the Dzuarikau-Tskinval pipeline began in 2006. Its
length is 163 kilometers. The South Ossetian stretch is 70.2 kilometers
long. The pipeline diameter is 0.4 meter. The gas pipeline crosses the
Caucasus Ridge and runs at a height of 3,148 meters in the area of the
Kudarsky Pass.
It is the highest pipeline in highlands, which has no analogues in the
world, according to Gazprom officials. It may be entered in the Guinness
Book of World Records.
South Ossetia at present receives Russian gas through Georgia. On the
day of the commissioning of the new gas pipeline, Tskhinval will stop
tapping gas that comes from the Georgian direction.