TAPI Gas to Start Flowing in Five Years

Gas from the ambitious Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline is expected to start flowing into energy-starved India in another five years, official sources have said.

IANS has reported that the next stage of the project is to go for a "consortium approach" to build and operate the project.

"The consortium will go for road shows to tell international companies and financiers to invest in the project," IANS reported the source as saying.

India in May signed the gas sales-purchase agreement for the $7.6 billion gas pipeline project that is to begin in Turkmenistan and pass through Afghanistan and Pakistan before terminating in India.

He said that the process of selecting the consortium, funding of the 1,680-km pipeline and other aspects will take around a year.

Asked about the fate of the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, the official said the project which had begun taking shape in 2006-07, has "still not grown up".

According to the source, one drawback in the IPI project was the involvement of countries in building the 2,775-km pipeline, rather than going for a consortium approach. He said the price negotiations with India on the gas were "not agreeable". "There have been no further talks," he said, adding "it is still on the table".