HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): Turkmenistan on Sunday said each partner country of the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–India (TAPI) gas pipeline project would invest $200 million on the scheme.
Wafa Hajjive, Turkmen deputy foreign minister, told a joint press conference with Herat Governor that TAPI was an important project for both the partner countries and Asia. He said cooperation with Afghanistan was part of his country’s foreign policy.
The gas pipeline will pass on 147-km area of Turkmenistan. A 735km portion of the pipeline will pass through Afghanistan’s Herat, Farah, Helmand and Kandahar provinces reaching Pakistan. Afghanistan will earn $400 million annually in transit fee and the project will create jobs for thousands of people in the country.
The TAPI pipeline will carry natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan and then India.
According to Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, Afghanistan would purchase 500 million cubic metre of gas in the first decade, and 1 billion cubic metre of gas in the second decade and 1.5 billion cubic metre in the third decade. According to Afghan officials, the total investment on the scheme is estimated to be between 8 billion to 11 billion American dollars.
Herat Governor Mohammad Asif Rahimi said they supported the TAPI project because Afghan industrialists were in urgent need of electricity and Afghanistan needed more Turkmen cooperation.
Hajjive said they were ready to meet demands of the local administration because Afghanistan was one of the best partners of Turkmenistan on regional and global level.
He said they would try to increase the voltage of electricity imported to Afghanistan from his country and pledged the construction of a school in one of Herat’s bordering districts.
myn/ma
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