The construction of the transnational gas pipeline Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) was discussed today in New Delhi by the Foreign Ministers of India and Turkmenistan and India Subramaniyam Jaishankar and Rashid Meredov, the press service of the Turkmen Foreign Ministry reported.
The diplomats “exchanged views on joint actions to implement the TAPI project”, as well as “on topical issues of interstate interaction and regional cooperation”, the message says.
“The progressive dynamics of the development of interstate relations in the political-diplomatic, trade-economic and cultural-humanitarian spheres was emphasized”, the ministry said.
The head of the Turkmen Foreign Ministry, in particular, “noted the consistent development of cooperation in education and science, medicine and healthcare”.
The TAPI pipeline will run from the giant Galkynysh gas field in southern Turkmenistan through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar, Pakistani Quetta and Multan to the city of Fazilka in western India.
The length of the gas pipeline will be 1,814 km (across Turkmenistan - 214 km, across Afghanistan - 774 km, across Pakistan - 826 km). The throughput capacity is 33 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
Construction of TAPI began in 2015. The ceremonial welding of the symbolic pipe joint on the border of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan took place in 2018.
In September 2020, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan signed a Memorandum on the selection of land plots for the TAPI highway.
At the end point of TAPI - India, the entire infrastructure has already been built in order to receive the gas pipeline.
In addition to the TAPI gas pipeline, the construction of electricity and communication lines along the TAP route, as well as railways connecting Turkmenistan with Afghanistan and other countries of the region - Akina-Andhoy and Turgundi-Herat, continues.
The project cost is 10 billion US dollars.