Construction begins on Afghan stretch of TAPI gas pipeline
Indian minister of state for external affairs MJ Akbar (left), Turkmenistan president Gubanguly Berdimuhamedow (second left), Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani (second right) and Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (right) listen during the integration ceremony of TAPI pipeline in Herat city, Afghanistan
WORK has started on the Afghanistan section of a US-backed pipeline that will transport natural gas from Turkmenistan through the country and also Pakistan and India.
The 1,140-mile TAPI pipeline is to carry 33 billion cubic metres of gas a year and will be an important new export outlet for Turkmenistan, whose economy centres on its vast natural gas reserves.
Workers at the Turkmen-Afghan border welded the first link crossing the frontier in a ceremony today, observed by video by the presidents of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, Pakistan’s prime minister and India’s foreign minister.
