"We are targeting June 2009 as the completion date," Vyatcheslav Sinyugin said at a meeting with officials responsible for dealing with the aftermath of the recent conflict in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia.
Prior to Tbilisi's invasion, natural gas was delivered to South Ossetia from Georgia via a pipeline, which was partially destroyed during Russia's operation to "to force Georgia to peace."
Russia is temporarily providing South Ossetia with liquefied gas, but will make the construction of a 162-km stretch across the border a priority. Russia's energy giant Gazprom and natural gas producer Itera will be involved in the project.
Sinyugin said the damage to S. Ossetian energy supply infrastructure from the conflict was an estimated 1.2 billion rubles (about $71 million).
Russia recognized South Ossetia and another Georgian breakaway republic, Abkhazia, as independent states, on August 26. Only Nicaragua has recognized the republics since then, although Belarus may follow suit later this month.
