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Afghanistan says to begin work on huge gas pipeline

“This project will benefit not only the economies of the countries participating but also the countries of the whole region,” Turkmen President

By AFP
September 12, 2024
A security personnel stands guard near the pipes during the inauguration ceremony of the TAPI pipeline project, in the Tagtabazar district of Mary province, near the zero point between Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, on September 11, 2024. — AFP
A security personnel stands guard near the pipes during the inauguration ceremony of the TAPI pipeline project, in the Tagtabazar district of Mary province, near the zero point between Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, on September 11, 2024. — AFP

ISLIM CHESHMA (Turkmenistan): Afghanistan said Wednesday work would begin on a $10 billion gas pipeline traversing South Asia as officials joined dignitaries in neighbouring Turkmenistan to celebrate its completion on that side of the border.

Progress on the TAPI pipeline — running through Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India — has been repeatedly delayed because of security issues in conflict-ravaged Afghanistan.

“From today the operations will start on Afghanistan´s soil,” Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said at the ceremony in comments broadcast by Afghan state television.

At the border ceremony in Islim Cheshma in Turkmenistan, officials on both sides, including Afghan Prime Minister Hassan Akhund, hailed the project.

“This project will benefit not only the economies of the countries participating but also the countries of the whole region,” Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedow said in a video broadcast live at the ceremony.

In the Afghan border province of Herat, a public holiday was declared to mark the occasion, with posters celebrating the project plastered around the capital of the same name.

The pipeline will see around 33 billion cubic metres of natural gas each year extracted from the Galkynysh gas field in southeast Turkmenistan.

It will be pumped through a 1,800-kilometre (1,120-mile) pipeline traversing Afghanistan, including Herat and Kandahar in the south, before crossing into restive Balochistan province in Pakistan and ending in Fazilka in Indian Punjab. Pakistan and India will each purchase 42 percent of the gas deliveries, and Afghanistan 16 percent, while Kabul will also benefit from lucrative transit fees of around $500 million per year, according to Afghan media. Work on the Turkmen side began in 2015 and was initially scheduled to start in Afghanistan in 2018, but has been repeatedly delayed. India´s commitment to the pipeline has also previously been questioned over its relationship with Pakistan and its already easy access to liquefied natural gas markets.