Islamabad: President Arif Alvi on Monday (December 20) said that the government would take every step to complete the multi-billion-dollar Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, news sources reported. He said that at a meeting with Turkmenistan’s Foreign Minister Meredov Rashid Ovezgeldiyevich and expressed hope that the said project will reduce the energy crises in the country.
According to sources, both parties proposed forming a committee within the Joint Working Group to expedite work. The planned project is divided into two phases: a free flow phase with an estimated cost of USD 5-6 billion, and a compressor station installation phase with an estimated cost of USD 1.9 billion. The 1,800kilometre-long pipeline project with a capacity of 33 billion cubic metres began in 2015 while Pakistan started working on its section of the project in 2018. The pipeline would run from Turkmenistan’s Galkynysh, the world’s second-largest gas resource, to Fazilka, India. It will travel through Afghanistan’s Herat and Kandahar, as well as Quetta and Multan.
The project is regarded as one of the main energy security projects, that’s deemed critical for the development of South Asia that is facing the ever-increasing demand for natural gas. This year, the government has announced that the natural gas resources of Pakistan are also depleting at a 9% per annum rate.
Nauman Ahmad is an imaginative Pisces whose love for literature and nature is unparalleled. When he's not reading or hiking, he's sleeping and eating, which gives him plenty of energy for his next adventure.
