TAPI gas pipeline project to start from December 13

Islamabad: The ground-breaking ceremony of the proposed multi-billion dollar 1,735-kilometre gas pipeline connecting Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India will start from December 13, Turkmenistan Ambassador to Pakistan has said.

The trans-national gas pipeline project known as TAPI, is intended to carry 33 billion cubic meters of gas annually through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar and terminate in Fazilka, a border town in India's Punjab state.

Turkmenistan Ambassador to Pakistan Atadjan Movlamov said the ground-breaking ceremony of TAPI project will take place in his country on December 13, Radio Pakistan reported.

Turkmenistan is said to have the world's fourth-largest gas reserves, but currently exports almost all of it to China.

TAPI is vital for economic growth of regional countries, Pakistan's Inter-Provincial Coordination Minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada said.

He said TAPI project is vital for Pakistan's energy needs and would strengthen relations between Islamabad and Ashgabat.