Pakistan and Turkmenistan signed a joint plan for the implementation of the project for the construction of the transnational gas pipeline Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI).
According to the Pakistani media, the ceremony of signing the document took place in Islamabad with the participation of the Pakistani Prime Minister Shakhbaz Sharif.
The document was put by the Deputy Minister of Energy for the Pakistan oil industry Musadik Masud Macal and the State Minister of Turkmenistan, the chairman of the Turkmengaz State Council Maksat Babaev.
Pakistani Prime Minister noted the significance of the project for the entire region and the importance of its rapid implementation.
The cost of the Tapi project is estimated at $ 7 billion.
as part of the project, it is planned to supply natural gas to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India from the Galkynysh Turkmen field and nearby regions.
The project is coordinated by the Asian Development Bank. Tapi provides for the construction of a gas pipeline with a length of 1680 km from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Design capacity – 33 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
A framework for the gas pipeline was signed in 2010. However, in the implementation of the project it was not possible to achieve progress for technical and financial reasons, as well as because of the disagreement between India and Pakistan.