Islamabad: Pakistan and Turkmenistan have decided to settle the financial closure of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project by the beginning of 2020, a news source reported. For this purpose, a high-level meeting was recently held in Islamabad between the Federal Minister for Energy Omar Ayub Khan and a delegation from Turkmenistan.
The delegation discussed the progress made for the purpose of securing funds for executing the multibillion-dollar project. Parts of the funding for the construction in Turkmenistan have been procured from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). Some money will be provided by foreign firms on the supplier credit basis.
As per reports, the construction work on Pakistan’s part of the project is expected to commence from next month (October) onwards. Moreover, some corporations have been short-listed by the TAPI company to be handed over the construction work for the project.
The ground-breaking for the pipeline project has already happened in Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, with Turkmenistan making headway with work on the project and Afghanistan conducting civil works at various points at their end.
