TAPI Pipe Project Faces No Delay: Press

The $10bn four-nation Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (Tapi) pipeline is progressing well and faces no delay, Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported January 16 citing a government document.

“The planned flow of non-compressed gas from the Tapi gas pipeline project is December 2023,” the official document available with APP stated.

Pakistan is looking to renegotiate the price of gas with Tapi Project Company (TPCL) before it starts work on the project. A government official told the news agency that Pakistan is keen to have a new compatible gas price and renegotiation will take place with the TPCL before the groundbreaking of the pipeline in Pakistan.

The official said that Pakistan would complete the first phase of the project within a period of 30-month after initiating the groundwork for laying the pipeline from Chaman to Multan via Quetta and Dera Ismail Khan.

Tapi is planned to be 1,814 km long, of which 214 km will run through Turkmenistan, 774 km through Afghanistan, and 826 km through Pakistan to the border with India. Work on the Afghan section of the Tapi pipeline started in February 2018, with a groundbreaking ceremony taking place in Herat city. 

The much-delayed pipeline aims to transfer 33bn m³/yr of gas from Turkmenistan’s giant Galkynysh gas field to participating countries by 2020. However, many believe the security situation in Afghanistan could yet derail the project.