Pakistan plans to extend the local Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Act (FIPPA) to the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project.
This was reported by Pakistani media quoting a source in the energy ministry as saying that the process will be concluded by December 31, 2023.
"The move is aimed at increasing the bankability of the project in the eyes of the international lenders, which is estimated to cost $10bn and will transport natural gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan through Afghanistan..."
Experts told Daryo that the construction of TAPI, with a capacity of 33bn cubic metres of gas per year, began in December 2015. The Turkmen side said earlier that during this period it had laid a linear pipeline to the Afghan border and was preparing the source of raw materials.
The conditions for the construction and operation of the Afghan and Pakistani sections of the 1,639-km pipeline are currently being examined.
Potential investors are waiting for international recognition of the new government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. There are also serious concerns about the security of the project on the Afghan route, which is threatened by the Islamic State's Khorasan branch.
Eziz Boyarov
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