Turkmenistan and Pakistan will self-finance the construction of the TAPI gas pipeline, said Pakistan's Minister of Petroleum Musadik Malik,the information site Profit reports .
According to Malik, this decision was made due to the international community's reluctance to recognize the Afghan government, which slowed down foreign financing.
The minister also mentioned the idea of exporting Turkmen gas to the EU through Pakistan. According to this plan, the gas will be transported by pipelines to Pakistan and then transported to Europe by rail.
In April, it was reported that Islamabad was interested in building the alternative Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline and intended to ask the US not to take measures against Islamabad for violating anti-Iranian sanctions for laying the IP.
Addressing this issue, Malik only noted that Pakistan is actively seeking a sanctions waiver similar to those granted to other countries.
Pakistan must lay an 80 km section of the pipeline on its territory by the end of September. Otherwise, Pakistan faces a fine of $18 billion.
According to previous agreements, the $10 billion TAPI gas pipeline project was supposed to be financed 30% ($3 billion) by the participants and 70% ($7 billion) by loans from international financial institutions. Of the 30% that the participating countries had to allocate, 85% ($2.55 billion) was to come from Turkmenistan and another 5% ($150 million each) from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
May 24, 2024