Construction of TAPI pipeline to begin within a year: report

Leaders of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India performed groundbreaking of the project in December 2015

Practical work on the TAPI pipeline project will start in Afghanistan once the technical assessments have been finalised, a TOLO News report has quoted an Afghan official as saying.

The project aims to export up to 33 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per year through a proposed 1,814-kilometer pipeline from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

Leaders of the four countries performed groundbreaking of the project in December 2015, which would help ease energy deficit in South Asia.

Addressing a gathering under the theme ‘TAPI and Its Impacts on the Economic Development of Afghanistan’, project chairman Muhummet Murat Amanov said Turkmenistan had completed the engineering and design phase of the project and the pipe laying phase will start in Afghanistan within a year.



“Currently we are assessing the routes of the gas pipeline including issues related to earthquakes, along with social and environmental impact studies [in Afghanistan]. Most of our work needs to be done this year and should be finalised by October or November,” he added.

Afghan acting minister of mines and petroleum Nargis Nehan said that in addition to boosting the country’s national economy, TAPI will also help forge stronger ties between regional countries.