Despite Pakistan tension, Tapi not a pipe dream for India

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Even as tension is rising between India and Pakistan following the Uri and Baramulla attacks, the Indian government has clarified there is no plan to shelve the $9-billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (Tapi) natural gas pipeline project. The project aims to transport 33 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year through a 1,820-km pipeline from Turkmenistan to India.

“We are going ahead with the project. The alignment works have already started in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Moreover, we recently appointed Penspen as consultant,” said an official in the know.

India and Pakistan are at loggerheads following the Uri terrorist attack on September 18 and another one at 46 Rashtriya Rifles camp in Baramulla on October 2. The Uri attack resulted in the killing of 19 Indian soldiers, following which India carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control. Earlier, experts had raised doubts over the project, which passes through sensitive territory. The project will start from South Yolotan-Osman field in Turkmenistan, passing through the terror-torn terrain of Herat, Helmand and Kandahar regions in Afghanistan and then via Quetta and Multan in Pakistan, ending at Fazilka (Punjab) in India.

Officials have also said another pipeline project connecting India and Pakistan — Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline project — is unlikely to take off.

"The last meeting on IPI happened way back in 2008," said an official. The proposed 2,700-km project was to connect Iran’s South Pars fields in the Persian Gulf to Karachi and Multan in Pakistan and then to Delhi.

The Gas Authority of India is India’s representative in the project, while the Asian Development Bank is the transaction advisor. The Tapi project will supply 38 million standard cubic metres per day (mscmd) of gas each to India and Pakistan, while Afghanistan’s share will be 14 mscmd.

"There is no plan to scrap the Tapi project. It is developing fast," the official added. A Tapi steering committee had on August 7, 2015, unanimously selected Turkmengaz – the national gas company of Turkmenistan – to become the consortium leader for Tapi Pipeline Company. Following this, a shareholders’ agreement was signed.