President Hu Jintao sent a message to Thursday's (Dec. 30) ceremony in Beijing to mark the completion of China's largest gas transportation project, a 4,000-kilometer pipeline from the country's gas-rich western region to the industrial eastern, coastal provinces and cities.

Hu, also the general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the Central Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee, expressed gratefulness to the constructors, on behalf of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council.

"The completion of the cross-country gas project symbolizes, once again, that China's socialist system boasts the advantage of being able to concentrate resources in carrying out big projects," the president said.

He said the project will help promote development in the western part of the country and benefit people of different ethnic groups in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and other provinces in the project area.

Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan announced that the project had been completed and went into operation. Sheng Huaren, a vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), attended the ceremony.

A number of people were given awards at the ceremony for their contribution to the project, which is designed to transport 12 billion cubic meters of gas a year. 

Editor: Olivia