Tapi: Partners must ensure smooth flow

The ground-breaking ceremony for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (Tapi) gas pipeline project held in Mary in Turkmenistan may mark an important event in regional economic cooperation among South Asian and Central Asian countries. The importance all the countries attach to the project may be seen from the fact that the ceremony was jointly performed by the top leaders of the countries – Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Afghan Prime Minister Ashraf Ghani and Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov. It is a 20-year-old proposal for which the first concrete step has been taken now. The $ 10 billion project is intended to carry 90 million cubic metres of natural gas to Pakistan and India through Afghanistan with the pipeline terminating at Fazilka in Punjab. India is energy-hungry. Pakistan also needs gas. India and Pakistan will each share 42 per cent of the gas while Afghanistan will receive 16 per cent. Both Afghanistan and Pakistan will also receive transit fees. The project is expected to be completed in the early 2020s. The Asian Development Bank is financially supporting it and large oil and gas companies from all countries, including India’s GAIL, are involved in the execution.

It was security and political considerations which held up the project for many years. The pipeline passes through some of the most unsafe and unstable areas in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is felt that the safety of the pipeline may now be ensured with greater resolve and better security infrastructure to be deployed by governments, especially the Pakistan government. Political differences among partner countries had also hit the progress of the project. The symbolic start of the project may not mean that it will have a smooth course. There have been false starts in the past also. It is for all the stake-holders to ensure that the present determination and momentum is sustained till the project is completed.

When the pipeline is completed, it will be the first major cross-border vehicle of cooperation among South Asian countries. It will lead to economic integration of the region and link it to Central Asia. Its success will also promote friendlier relations and peace among the countries. There is a view that Kazakhstan may also be interested to transport its gas through the same pipeline. It may also be extended to Bangladesh, which is another gas-rich country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently visited five central Asian countries. The strategic value of having a link with Central Asia is being increasingly realised. The project offers immense opportunities for all participant countries to make use of for their individual and common good.