Officials confident practical work on TAPI in Afghanistan will start soon

Officials from the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum said discussions were held recently with Turkmenistan officials and that practical work on the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India (TAPI) gas pipeline project will start soon.

Officials said discussions were held with Turkmen officials during their recent visit to Herat.

The trans-Afghanistan pipeline has been on the cards for years and once complete will transport natural gas from the Galkynysh Gas Field in Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to India.

Construction on the project started in Turkmenistan on 13 December 2015 but is currently stalled on the Afghanistan side.

The ministry’s spokesman Homayoun Afghan said however that problems have been resolved to some extent and that resumption of work will start soon.

Officials from the Chamber of Industries and Mines say that once complete, Afghanistan will receive 500 million cubic meters of gas for ten years and then one billion cubic meters of gas for twenty years.

According to them, the government will also earn about $500 million a year in transit fees.

“If the TAPI project is implemented, it will be vital economically for Afghanistan and for three countries that are involved in this project,” said Sakhi Ahmad Payman, deputy head of the Afghanistan Chamber of Industries and Mines.

“In the future, we will be able to use this gas to move gas-related industries and produce energy. Our gas imports will decrease. In general, Afghanistan will get a good income from the economic point of view,” Payman added.

Khanjan Alkozi, a member of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI), also said that this is a “major” project that will provide employment opportunities for thousands of people.

In addition, economic experts believe that the grounds for the implementation of large economic projects in the country have been provided and the opportunity should be used effectively.

TAPI gas pipeline is 1,800 km long and extends from Afghanistan and Pakistan to India – of which 735 km of it will traverse Afghanistan through the provinces of Herat, Farah, Helmand and Kandahar.

It is estimated that the cost of this project will exceed $22.5 billion.