Afghanistan is fully prepared for the implementation of the TAPI project. This was stated to journalists by the Acting Minister of Mining and Oil of Afghanistan Shahabuddin Delawar, reports the Afghan agency «TOLO news».
“There are no problems from the Afghan side, we will do our best to resume work in the near future. There used to be a security problem, but now security in Afghanistan is fully ensured, and TAPI partners are aware of this,” Delaware said.
As you know, the TAPI gas pipeline with a capacity of 33 billion cubic meters of gas per year will run from the Turkmen Galkynysh field through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar, the Pakistani Quetta and Multan to the city of Fazilka in western India. The construction of the Turkmen section started in December 2015. In February 2018, the laying of the Afghan section of the gas pipeline took place.
The project has previously been approved by Russia, the United States and a number of other countries of the world. ADB, EBRD, IDB, Saudi Development Fund and others have announced their intention to participate in financing TAPI. According to estimates, the total cost of the project will be $8-10 billion.
After the power in Afghanistan passed to the Taliban, a number of Taliban officials expressed their interest in the implementation of the TAPI project and other major infrastructure projects in the country and promised guarantees for the safety of their construction.
In mid-January this year, the Taliban Foreign Ministry reported that an agreement had been reached that work on the electricity supply, the TAPI project and the expansion of the railway would be opened and started in March 2022.
