Azernews.Az

By Gunay Hasanova

Afghanistan will profit by more than $1 billion per year for gas transit via the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, the Turkmenistan newspaper reported.

Necessary infrastructure facilities – plants, gas compressor stations and gas purification plants will be built along this energy bridge.

"More than 12,000 jobs will be created for our Afghan brothers," said Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, according to the report.

The main document for the TAPI, called the Ashgabat Interstate Agreement, was signed in 2010. The groundbreaking ceremony for TAPI's Turkmen section was held in mid-December of 2015.

TAPI gas pipeline will make it possible to deliver gas from Turkmenistan, which ranks fourth in the world on biggest gas reserves, to large and promising markets of South and Southeast Asia. The pipeline is to run from Galkynysh - the largest gas field in Turkmenistan - through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar, and finally, reach the Fazilka settlement located near the India-Pakistan border.

The annual capacity of the gas pipeline will reach 33 billion cubic meters. It is planned that the total length of the TAPI pipeline will be 1,814 kilometers. Some 214 kilometers will pass through the territory of Turkmenistan, 774 kilometers - Afghanistan, 826 kilometers - Pakistan.

The project's preliminary cost is estimated at $10 billion. The Turkmen government reported earlier that the state concern Turkmengaz would be the main investor for the TAPI project.

Turkmenistan started construction of its section of TAPI pipeline in December 2015. The project is expected to be completed in late 2019.

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Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova

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