MoMP Discusses Facilitating TAPI Project

Shahabuddin Delawar, the acting Minister of Mines and Petroleum, in a meeting with Mohammad Murad Amanov, the chief of the TAPI company, discussed accelerating the process of starting the TAPI project.

The ministry spokesman Humayun Afghan said that in this meeting the acting minister called the implementation of the TAPI project beneficial not only for Afghanistan but for the member countries, and he pledged the Islamic Emirate’s support for the implementation of this project in Afghanistan.

The TAPI project is a major project to transfer Turkmenistan’s gas to South Asia. Although the Islamic Emirate has repeatedly said that the practical work of this project has started, it has not actually started yet.

Humayun Afghan said: “In this meeting, both parties emphasized the facilitation of the TAPI project. The Minister of MoMP added that the implementation of this project is a vital economic project not only for Afghanistan, but for all member countries, and all the people of Afghanistan and the Islamic Emirate support it.”

Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, said: “Afghanistan has provided the security where the TAPI project is supposed to be implemented and we have complete readiness. We hope that the TAPI project will be started but you know that this is not only the subject of one country, four other countries are also engaged with it and they all should be ready.”

Some economic analysts said the implementation of this project will be effective for economic growth and will increase the country’s income and said that by implementing this project, working opportunity will be provided for hundreds of people in Afghanistan.

“TAPI is engaged in a type of macro-regional competition which is murderous. All this gives a result which is neither in our benefit nor in the benefit of Turkmenistan and India. In more than 24 years, TAPI has not been moved, we have lost $22 billion dollars,” said Sayed Massod, an economic analyst.

“The TAPI project is the only project that connects Afghanistan with the region and brings the negative competition of the neighbors to the positive side. The TAPI project makes us self-sufficient in many ways and its implementation shows the world that Afghanistan is safe,” said Mohammad Nabi Afghan, an economic analyst.

Meanwhile, the Afghanistan Chamber of Industries and Mines (ACIM) said that the regional competition has caused the practical work on this project not to start.

Sakhi Ahmad Paiman, deputy of the Afghanistan Chamber of Industries and Mines, said: “There are preparations in Afghanistan to start the TAPI project, Turkmenistan is still interested in the implementation of the project. Pakistan and India also need energy supply. The fact is that political conflicts between the two countries have caused the delay of this project. If there is a regional consensus between the four countries, I think that it is a chance to actually start the work on the project.”

The TAPI project is one of the major projects in the region, where Turkmenistan gas is transferred to Pakistan and India through Afghanistan. With the implementation of this project, along with other benefits, about $400 million dollars will be collected annually through transit to Afghanistan.