Tai'an, East China's Shandong province plans to invest 1.3 billion yuan ($188.42 million) to build a heating source center and another 1.32 billion yuan to increase its capacity of natural gas supplies, local authorities have announced.

The heating source center, set to have a capacity of 20 million square meters, is expected to meet the city's heating demands and optimize its heating operation systems. It is hoped that it will be put into operation in 2020.

Along with the construction of the heating source center, the relevant pipelines will also be optimized to expand the city's coverage of heating supplies to rural areas.

Tai'an in East China's Shandong province. [Photo/VCG]

To increase its supply capacity of natural gas, Tai'an is promoting the second-stage construction of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Daiyue district.

"There are three pieces of land, covering a total area of 90 mu (6 hectares), reserved in advance for the second-stage of construction. Four concrete storage tanks will be built then, with a total capacity of up to 350,000 cubic meters of LNG, which can be gasified to 220 million cu m of natural gas," said an official of the city's housing and urban-rural development bureau.

The Tai'an government also reached a cooperation agreement with China National Petroleum Corporation, which it is hoped will help facilitate the establishment of the gas peak-shaving reserve and emergency system which can promote the balanced development of the city's natural gas industry.

Additionally, Tai'an is preparing for the construction of the 98-kilometer-long pipeline in the city, which is a part of the China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline. The China-Russia pipeline, starting in Heilongjiang and ending in Shanghai, is expected to send up to 38 billion cu m of gas to China each year upon completion, which is planned to be 2020.