Amidst construction delays: Pakistan, Turkmenistan to speed up TAPI gas pipeline project

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Turkmenistan on Thursday decided to speed up the progress on Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, a venture that has faced extended delays in its construction, according to the Pakistani energy ministry.

Ambassador of Turkmenistan Atadjan Movlamov called on interim Federal Minister for Energy Muhammad Ali here Thursday and discussed issues of mutual interests.

Minister Ali emphasised the pivotal role of gas in Pakistan’s economy saying, “With increasing energy demand of the country, such projects need an aggressive approach.”

“The progress on this project is in the right direction and will bear fruit. In this context, the Host Government Agreement (HGA) is expected to be concluded, with mutual consensus, in October.”

Moreover, frequent meetings of the working group on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) electricity project will be held to expedite the project. The minister also outlined plans for recurrent gatherings of the working group responsible for overseeing the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) electricity initiative, with the aim of fast-tracking its implementation.

Pakistan, which has confronted a deficiency in imported gas in recent months, has responded by curtailing power generation, exacerbating economic challenges amidst surging inflation and currency depreciation.

It may be noted that the TAPI gas pipeline project aims to bring natural gas from the Gylkynish and adjacent gas fields in Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. The ADB is acting as the facilitator and coordinator for the project. It is proposed to lay a 56-inch diameter 1,800 km pipeline with a design capacity of 33 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per annum from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and Pakistan up to India.

In June 2023, the Pakistani federal cabinet also granted approval to the project’s Joint Implementation Plan (JIP) to expedite the completion of its feasibility study and accelerate progress towards the construction phase.

The segment of the pipeline within Afghanistan will traverse from its northwestern border with Turkmenistan, extending southward through the city of Herat, ultimately reaching Kandahar near the Pakistani border. Obstacles in the project’s advancement have emerged due to disagreements pertaining to price revisions and delivery junctures.