TAPI project enters practical phase in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The multi-billion dollar Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project entered its practical phase in Pakistan on Friday after the initiation of front-end-engineering-and-design (FEED) route survey.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony, minister for petroleum and natural resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said it was a great moment for Pakistan to witness the launch of the project after a period of 22 years.

He said the FEED process was launched in Afghanistan last week and now it was being initiated in Pakistan to lay a 56-inch diameter, 1,680 kilometre pipeline, having capacity to flow 3.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and Pakistan up to the Pak-India border.

The minister expressed confidence that the project would complete "in time and on cost" and help meet energy requirements of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.

Terming the project crucial, Abbasi said Pakistan was in dire need of gas, and the demand for which it was meeting through import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for the last two years in an effective manner.

He said Pakistan would have surplus power and gas when the five-year democratic tenure of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz ends in 2018. The minister said under the TAPI project, scheduled to complete in the year 2020, Pakistan would be getting one third of its total gas production, which currently stands at 4bcfd.

During the last two years, he said significant developments had taken place for the smooth and timely execution of the project, and acknowledged the role of Turkmen president and government in initiating the practical work.

Abbasi said all the participating countries were cognizant of the difficulties involved in the project, and these would be overcome make TAPI a reality. Under the pipeline, Pakistan and India will be provided 1.325bcfd gas each and Afghanistan will be getting 0.5bcfd gas.

Inter State Gas Systems (ISGS) managing director Mobin Saulat, TAPI project chairman Muhammet Murat Amanov, Afghan president’s economic advisor Ajmal Ahmady and a representative of ILF, a Germany-based Consultant Engineers firm, also spoke on the occasion and highlighted different dimensions of the project.

TAPI project chairman said the pipeline would be the symbol of peace, prosperity and stability in the region, as it would open up new vistas of economic activities in every nook and cranny of the areas from where it would pass.

Afghan president’s economic advisor said the project would help quench thirst of the energy-starved nations in the region. He was of the view that the project would complete within the scheduled time.