The construction of much-anticipated TAPI gas pipeline will begin from December 13 in Turkmenistan. Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) project is commencing after 25 years of the inception of the project. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif along with Afghanistan and Indian leaders will attend the groundbreaking ceremony of $10 billion project in Asghabat.

Pakistan’s Interstate Gas Systems, along with Turkmenistan’s Turkmengas, Afghanistan’s Afghan Gas Enterprise and India’s Gail Ltd., has equal share-holding in the TAPI Pipeline Company Limited (TPCL). Gas supply to Pakistan via TAPI project will begin in 2019. On completion Pakistan and India will get over 1.3 billion cubic feet per day of gas from TAPI while Afghanistan will get 0.5 billion cubic feet.

Points to Note

• India will pay $200-250 million in transit fees to Pakistan while Pakistan will pay the same amount as transit fees to Afghanistan.
• Pakistan and India have both purchased five percent shares of the TAPI project. The pipeline has a stretch of 1,800 km and is likely to cost more than $10 billion.
• Turkmenistan government expects the gas link, with an annual capacity of 33 billion cubic metres, to be fully operational by the end of 2018.
• The TAPI project could help ease growing energy deficits of Asian giants Pakistan and India.

The project is politically complex, requiring cooperating governments, and logistically challenging, as the pipeline would pass through areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan plagued by Taliban and separatist insurgents.