7 TAPI project pacts to be signed soon: Officials

KABUL (Tolo News): Officials at the Foreign Ministry said that they will soon sign the remaining seven agreements on the TAPI project with TAPI project partners. Waliullah Shaheen, the director of strategic studies at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Turkmenistan will pay Afghanistan’s share for the TAPI project on loan.
“Regarding this issue, we have agreed with Turkmenistan that it will lend to Afghanistan the expenses to pay and Afghanistan will pay it back from the revenues of this project in the future,” said Waliullah Shaheen. Based on data of the Foreign Ministry, there are sixteen documents for the implementation of the TAPI project, 9 of which were signed before the collapse of the previous government and seven of the remaining agreements will be signed soon.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance says that in the new fiscal year, the budget for the TAPI project will be allocated. “For the TAPI project and other development projects, in the year of 1401 the budget will be considered,” said Ahmad Wali Haqmal, spokesman of the Ministry of Finance.
In the meantime, some economists believe that Afghanistan cannot afford to contribute to the TAPI project. “It seems that the Islamic Emirate alone will not be able to launch the TAPI project or even to start its initial work, as the sanctions imposed and the foreign aid from the world has stopped,” said Sayed Nasir Reshtia, economist.
The TAPI project will cost between $9 billion to $10 billion, and the parties involved in the project and the responsibility for the construction and management of this large regional project is under an entity known as TAPI Pipeline Company Limited (TPCL).