AKIPRESS.COM - $17 billion dollar Central Asian pipeline project could revive Afghanistan's economy but security and political issues have deterred investors, Anadolu Agency reported referring to State Advisor Shafiq Shahrani.

Afghanistan could become an “energy corridor” in the next two years as the country could part-host a $17-billion pipeline project to transfer Turkmenistan's gas to Pakistan and India.

The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Natural Gas Pipeline Project was first proposed in the early 1990s with the purpose of transporting natural gas from Turkmenistan to India through Afghanistan and Pakistan.

However, ongoing security problems and a lack of upstream development opportunities have seen investors’ interest wane in recent years.

The pipeline would run for nearly 1,735 kilometers, including 735 kilometers across Afghanistan and another 800 kilometers through Pakistan. The pipeline will be designed to carry 33 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas annually.

“Afghanistan is a potential energy corridor. If TAPI is successful, there might be other similar projects going to India and Gwadar Port of Pakistan,” Advisor Shahrani to the Afghan Minister of Mines and Petroleum said.

“TAPI will boom the economy in energy-starved Pakistan. Meanwhile, it will bring $1 billion in transit fees for Afghanistan per year. Afghanistan will buy about five billion cubic meters of gas per year.”

So far, less interest has been displayed in the TAPI project after going to the market in 2012, but officials are hopeful for future revival in the project.

“The investors have shown less interest for building this pipeline due to not having stakes at the upstream development of this project,” Shahrani continued. “Currently, the Asian Development Bank is the transaction advisor for this project and is working to prepare all the documentation for going to the market once again.”

“Meanwhile, Turkmenistan doesn’t want any foreign companies to have stakes in upstream development inside their territory which is another reason for less interest shown by investors in this project.”

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