Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project is a consolidating factor of political significance, the Turkmen Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said.

"TAPI is not just a mutually beneficial energy and economic project, but also a consolidating factor of political significance with convincing evidence of balancing the interests of producers, transit countries and energy resources to consumers. The project is acquiring real features showing that the radius of its potential impact is much wider than the actual geographic route of the future highway", the report said.

The TAPI project with the proposed capacity of 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year will extend from Galkynysh field in Turkmenistan through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar to its final point at a settlement on the Pakistani-Indian border.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) serves as a transactional advisor on TAPI gas pipeline project. Its main task is to develop the project company TAPI Ltd., as well as to search for the leader of the consortium to implement one of the largest energy projects in the vast Asian space.

Experts believe that TAPI is not only a regional project envisaging the transportation of Turkmen gas, but also a global project. The implementation of the project will strengthen Turkmenistan's independence, and its gas supplies to world markets will increase significantly.

The project is an opportunity to contribute to the stabilization of Afghanistan, and its implementation could contribute to the rehabilitation process in the post-war country as it will create job opportunities and provide Afghanistan with guaranteed income from the transit.