The Ministry of Interior has deployed thousands of security force members to ensure security at the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project.
Work on the Turkmenistan section is complete while work on the Afghanistan section of the pipeline project started last month in Herat – in the west of the country.
“Thousands of security force members have been deployed to ensure better security for the TAPI project,” deputy spokesman for the ministry of interior Nusrat Rahimi said.
According to the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, technical and economic teams are working on the project right now.
“The pipeline has reached Afghanistan. We are focusing on technical work of the project in order to ensure better implementation of the plans and programs of the project inside Afghanistan,” said Abdul Qadeer Mufti, spokesman for Ministry of Mines and Petroleum.
The TAPI Project
The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project was inaugurated by leaders of four countries in January 2016. The work on the Turkmenistan section of the project was completed on Friday.
The 1,814-kilometer gas pipeline will pass through Afghanistan to Pakistan and India. At least 816 kilometers of the pipeline will pass through the territory of Afghanistan.
The pipeline passes through Herat, Farah, Nimroz, Helmand and Kandahar provinces of Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan, the TAPI pipeline will be constructed alongside the Kandahar–Herat Highway in western Afghanistan, and then via Quetta and Multan in Pakistan.
The final destination of the pipeline will be the Indian town of Fazilka, near its border with Pakistan.
The project will cost $22.5 billion USD.
The project will be completed by 2019, according to President Ashraf Ghani’s Office.
The project is implemented by the TAPI Limited Company – a group of firms from Afghanistan and Turkmenistan including Afghan Gas Enterprise, Turkmen Gas State Company, and two private companies from Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s Share From TAPI
Afghanistan is expected to earn more than $400 million USD in transit duties annually from the project.
According to President Ghani’s Office, the project will create thousands of job opportunities for Afghans.
Afghanistan will annually get 500 million cubic meters of gas from the project in the first ten years. The amount will increase to one billion cubic meters of gas in the following ten years and 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas in the third 10 years after the completion of the project.