SAMARKAND (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th January, 2019) Transit of gas via the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, which is currently under construction, may generate at least $1 billion for Afghanistan yearly, a member of the Turkmen delegation to the India-Central Asia Dialogue told Sputnik on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, the first meeting of foreign ministers in the format of the India-Central Asia Dialogue with the participation of Afghanistan opened in the Uzbek city of Samarkand.
"The gas pipeline [TAPI] will bring at least $1 billion yearly to the budget of Afghanistan for the transit of gas through its territory alone," the delegation member said on the sidelines of the meeting.
The Turkmen delegate also emphasized a major social impact that the project would have on Afghanistan because it is expected to create 12,000 jobs.
"The work on the practical implementation of the project is in an active phase. All necessary agreements and other documents have been signed," the delegate added.
The construction of the TAPI pipeline was launched in 2015 and is expected to be completed at the end of this year. The 1,814 kilometer-long (1,127 mile-long) pipeline will transport natural gas from the Caspian Sea deposits in Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and Pakistan into India. The annual capacity of the pipeline is expected to reach 33 billion cubic meters (1.1 trillion cubic feet).
