Agreement reached on Tapi gas pipeline

ASHKABAD: The leaders of Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Turkmenistan agreed on Saturday to move forward with a complicated and risky plan to build a natural gas pipeline across rugged territory plagued by war and terrorism.
The pipeline, which would terminate in India, would bring huge amounts of gas to underdeveloped regions and could earn impoverished Afghanistan hundreds of millions of dollars in transit fees.
The route for the 1,700-kilometre Tapi (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India) pipeline from gas-rich Turkmenistan would cross Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, where the Taliban and international forces are locked in battle, as well as some of Pakistan’s unruly tribal areas. Concerns about security for the pipeline itself and for the workers who construct it have cast doubt on the project’s near-term feasibility, but proponents say it would calm the chaotic region.
“Along with commercial and economic benefits, this project will also yield a stabilising influence on the region and beyond,” Turkmen President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov said after the leaders signed a document supporting the project.
“Afghanistan will live up to its obligations in ensuring the pipeline’s construction and safety,” said Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose under-trained army struggles against the resurgent Taliban.

Agreement reached on Tapi gas pipeline