President Asif Ali Zardari called for the early completion of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Gas Pipeline project to help meet Pakistan’s urgent energy needs. During a meeting with Turkmenistan’s Envoy to Pakistan, President Zardari called for an early finalization of the Transit Trade Agreement with Turkmenistan to further boost bilateral cooperation between the two countries. According to President Zardari, the agreement, once signed, would help expand trade, promote regional connectivity as well as enhance economic activities in the region.
The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline is a 1,814 km trans-country natural gas pipeline running across four countries. The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline will begin in Turkmenistan and traverse Afghanistan to enter Pakistan and India. The magnificent trans-nations project aims to transport natural gas from Turkmenistan to the other three neighboring countries, enhancing energy security and promoting economic cooperation between Central and South Asian regions. The Quad Nation Energy project is of utmost importance for energy-deficient Pakistan which is embattled with acute electricity load-shedding, high- energy prices, and massive circular debts of energy-producing and distributing firms since the beginning of the 21st century.
The plan for the TAPI project was originally conceived in the 1990s to generate revenue from Turkmenistan’s gas reserves by exporting natural gas via Afghanistan to Pakistan and India. An inter-governmental agreement (IGA) was signed in 2010 by the heads of four member nations and construction work kicked start by a stone-laying ceremony at Turkmens Galkynysh gas fields in December 2015. The project was expected to be operationalized by 2021 but due to security and political concerns construction work in AfPak and Pak-India sections could not begin so far.
According to the plan, Pakistan and India each were to receive 42 percent shares, while Kabul would have to purchase 16% gas when it gets fully operationalized in due course of time. As said, more than 1.5 billion people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India are expected to benefit from the long-term energy security provided by the project. In addition, the project is expected to boost the revenues of Turkmenistan via the sale of gas. Afghanistan and Pakistan will also receive benefits through transit fees, job opportunities and other financial dividends. Although, the TAPI gas pipeline project is a magnificent endeavour which can bring a revolutionary change of development and affluence in the whole of South Asia until and unless the interstate rivalries, biases, hate politics and warmongering of the regional leaders come to an end.
