Ajmal Ahmadi, the acting minister of Industry and commerce expressed about the importance of the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India pipeline project (TAPI) and said that it is not only an economic project, but also a political one that links the four nations.
Describing more about TAPI, he informed that initially a feasibility study was conducted, in which the cost was estimated $15 billion, but after updating the feasibility study, the cost of the project fell to $5 billion.
Sayed Majbubullah Rabbani, Deputy Minister of Mines and Petroleu m at the same press conference said, “A few years ago, the TAPI Project was a dream, but fortunately today we are witnessing the implementation phase of the project.”
Rabbani assured that this project has been implemented by internationally accredited companies and how it is a great opportunity for the country’s human resources to benefit from the skills of international companies.
Explaining about the advantages of this project, Rabbani said that billion of dollars will be saved on fuel and energy consumption, and this saved money could be allocated towards education, infrastructure and development. He added that Afghanistan will receive approximately $400 million annually from pipeline transit duty.
Shah Zaman Maiwandi, head of the National Environmental Protection Agency also added that TAPI is one of the most valuable economic and infrastructure projects in the country, which will transport more than 30 million cubic meters of gas over a period of 30 years. “Due to the size of the project, the scope of its environmental impact is also vast”, he said.
“Fortunately, there are management, technical and technological solutions to manage, prevent and reduce the adverse effects of the project. One of these methods is the implementation of the environmental and social impact assessment process”, Maiwandi added.
It was also clarified that the TAPI company has prepared an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment report and has submitted it to the authority for environmental permission. After careful study and approval of the report, the environmental authority issued an environmental license for a specific fees and will monitor it during the implementation of the project.
