First kilometers of TAPI gas pipeline laid in Afghanistan - media
ASHGABAT. Jan 14 (Interfax) - Nearly three kilometers of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline have been laid in Afghanistan, TOLONews reported, citing Afghanistan's Mines and Petroleum Industry Ministry representative Homayoun Afghan.
"The TAPI project is currently being implemented according to plan, with 2.9 kilometers of the pipeline having been laid and welded to date, and around 3.4 kilometers of the route having been prepared," Afghan said.
Construction of the TAPI gas pipeline began along the Serhetabad-Herat route in Afghanistan in September 2024. Muhammetmyrat Amanov, CEO of the TAPI Pipeline Company Limited consortium that operates the TAPI construction, at the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan forum in March 2024 said that the section could be about 150 km in total length.
Turkmenistan has successfully completed its 214 km section, and prepared it for operation in 2024.
News Central Asia said that a meeting occurred in Kabul in the first week of 2025 between Afghanistan's acting Mines and Petroleum Minister Hidayatullah Badri and Amanov. The parties discussed the latest achievements of the TAPI gas pipeline project, as well as matters related to expediting the remaining work on the project.
Afghanistan's economists have long been talking about the potential benefits of TAPI for the local economy, News Central Asia said.
"International projects like TAPI could provide Afghanistan with global economic legitimacy and incentivize foreign investment, demonstrating the successful implementation of major initiatives," the publication quotes economic expert Mohammad Asif Stanekzai as saying.
Afghanistan is expected to receive $400 million per year from transit fees, while also receiving a share in gas supplies.
As reported earlier, the TAPI gas pipeline is 1,814 km in total length, with 214 km traversing Turkmenistan, 774 km traversing Afghanistan, and 826 km traversing Pakistan to the border with India.
The TAPI gas pipeline with output capacity of 33 billion cubic meters of gas per year will run from the giant Galkynysh gas field in southern Turkmenistan, with reserves estimated at 27.4 trillion cubic meters of gas, through Afghanistan's cities of Herat and Kandahar, Pakistan's Quetta and Multan to the city of Fazilka in western India.
Turkmengas state gas concern is the majority shareholder of the TAPI Pipeline Company Limited project operator with 85% of the shares. Afghan Gas Corporation, Pakistan's Inter State Gas Systems (Private) Limited, and India's GAIL each hold 5% of the shares in the consortium. Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry recently said that Astana is negotiating participation in the construction of TAPI.
The gas pipeline is preliminarily estimated at $10 billion.
Construction began on Turkmenistan's section of TAPI in December 2015; the foundation stone for Afghanistan's section of the gas pipeline was laid on February 23, 2018; and Kabul in autumn 2023 officially said that it had decided to acquire land for the TAPI pipeline project and was ready to begin actually implementing construction of its section of the pipeline.