Reuters: TAPI Gas Pipeline Through Afghanistan 'Doable' - ADB official

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) hopes to overcome by 2020 the challenges of building a $10-billion gas pipeline through Afghanistan's most violent areas, by making sure it benefits Afghan contractors and communities, a bank official said.

Shareholders of the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) project agreed on Thursday to invest $200 million in studies and engineering for the pipeline, looking to link gas-rich Turkmenistan with eager markets in Pakistan and India.

Originating at the giant Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan, the TAPI pipeline, which involves the four countries' own energy companies, would carry 33 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year.

But current plans route the underground pipeline through one of Afghanistan's most violence-wracked provinces, Helmand, where the Taliban insurgents hold sway. MORE