Construction of Afghan section of Turkmenistan-to-India pipeline starts

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) — Top officials of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan on Wednesday witnessed the start of construction of the Afghanistan section of the pipeline that will supply Afghanistan, Pakistan and India with natural gas from Turkmenistan’s vast reserves.

The Afghanistan section was to have been completed in 2018, but construction was repeatedly postponed because of security concerns. Only the Turkmenistan section has been finished.

The Wednesday ceremony to weld the first joint of the 100-kilometer (62-mile) pipeline section from Turkmenistan to the Afghan city of Herat was observed by Afghan Prime Minister Hassan Akhund, Turkmenistan President Serdar Berdymukhamediv and his father and predecessor Gurbanguly.

The pipeline will eventually supply 33 billion cubic meters of gas a year.

Turkmenistan has the world’s fourth-largest gas reserves, which are the keystone of its economy. After losing its gas trade with Russia, Turkmenistan sought to diversify its customers and currently exports mainly to China.

Gurbanguly Bersymukhamedov, who holds the title of National Leader of the Turkmen People, said that the pipeline project and ancillary projects will add 12,000 jobs in Afghanistan and more than 1 billion US dollars per year in revenue, according to the government newspaper Neutral Turkmenistan.