Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (TAPI)

The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (TAP or TAPI) is a proposed natural gas pipeline being developed by the Asian Development Bank.The pipeline will transport Caspian Sea natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to India. The abbreviation comes from the first letters of those countries. Proponents of the project see it as a modern continuation of the Silk Road. The Afghan government is expected to receive 8% of the project's revenue.GAIL India may became a part of TAPI project.

Route

The 1,735 kilometres (1,078 mi) pipeline will run from the Turkmenistan gas fields to Afghanistan. Most of sources reports that the pipeline will start from the Dauletabad gas field while some other sources say that it will start from the Iolotan gas field.

In Afghanistan, the TAPI will be constructed alongside the highway running from Herat to Kandahar, and then via Quetta and Multan in Pakistan. The final destination of the pipeline will be the Indian town of Fazilka, near the border between Pakistan and India.

For security reasons, the Asian Development Bank had proposed alternative routes in Afghanistan. One alternative was through Taskepri in Turkmenistan to Shebarghan and then through Balakh, Mazar-i-Sharif, Samangan, Kabul and Jalalabad in Afghanistan, and Peshawar, Nowshera, Islamabad and Lahore in Pakistan to India. Another alternative was a route through Serhetabat, Shindand, Delaram, Kandahar, Quetta, Lora Lai, Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan anf finally to FAZILKA (PUNJAB INDIA).

Technical features

The pipeline will be 1,420 millimetres (56 in) in diameter with a working pressure of 100 standard atmospheres (10,000 kPa).^[13] The initial capacity will be 27 billion cubic metres (950 billion cubic feet) of natural gas per year of which 2 billion cubic metres (71 billion cubic feet) will be provided to Afghanistan and 12.5 billion cubic metres (440 billion cubic feet) to each Pakistan and India. Later the capacity will increase to 33 billion cubic metres (1.2 trillion cubic feet).^[17] Six compressor stations would be constructed along the pipeline.^[13] The pipeline was expected to be operational by 2014.^[18]

The cost of the pipeline is estimated cost at US$7.6 billion.^[10] The Asian Development Bank has played a leading role in coordinating and facilitating the TAPI negotiation process. The four TAPI nations must still attract commercial partners to build, finance, and operate the pipeline, estimated in 2008 to cost at least $7.6 billion.^[19]

ISSUES(CHALLENGES)

1) REMANANTS OF DISRUPTIVE TALIBAN IN AFHANISTAN AND HOSTILE PAKISTAN INCREASES CONCERN ABPOT SECURITY OF THE PIPLINE

2)ITS USA SUPPORTED INTIATIVE TO BYPASS IRAN AND CONTAIN CHINA,(REGIONAL STABILITY CHALLENGED)

3)COST OF PIPELINE PROJECT,THE DIVISIONS OF TRANSPOT FEES AND AMOUNT OF NATURAL GAS,TIME FRAME OF PROJECT COMPLETION AND THE DIFFICULT TERRAIN ARE THE OTHER MAJOR ISSUES.