Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Jan. 27
By Huseyn Hasanov – Trend:
Construction of the Turkmen section of the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline is going on at a fast pace, reports the Turkmen online newspaper NEBIT-GAZ.
The Turkmengas State Concern is the customer of the construction of this section.
"The main work on the study and measurement of the gas pipeline has been completed at a section with a length exceeding 208,000 meters," the newspaper said. "Welding and docking of 1,420-mm pipes in a section with a length exceeding 7,000 meters have also been finished."
Insulation of the pipe connections, trenching, laying and backfilling of the pipes are underway.
TAPI will make it possible to ensure long-term supplies of gas to the countries of the Southeast Asia, and these supplies will become an incentive for further economic development of the region, NEBIT-GAZ said.
The main document of the TAPI, called the Ashgabat Interstate Agreement, was signed in 2010. A groundbreaking ceremony for TAPI's Turkmen section was held in mid-December 2015.
The annual capacity of the gas pipeline will reach 33 billion cubic meters. It is planned that the total length of the TAPI pipeline will be 1,814 kilometers. Some 214 kilometers of it will go through Turkmenistan, 774 kilometers through Afghanistan, and 826 kilometers through Pakistan.
The project is expected to be completed in late 2019.