China has completed the preparations for the construction of a planned natural gas pipeline from the west to the east of the country.The huge gas pipeline project, a key project in China's western region development strategy, is aimed to send natural gas from the resources-rich west to the energy-thirsty eastern coastal region. The pipeline, cutting through nine provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities from Xinjiang to Shanghai will be more than 4,000 kilometers long. The pipeline is estimated to cost at least 40 billion yuan (4.8 billion U.S. dollars) and is capable of supplying 12 billion to 20 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year.