LAHORE: American Business Forum (ABF) welcomed the signing of the TAPI pipeline agreement between Turkmanistan, India and Pakistan. 

The 1,700-kilometre (1,050-mile) TAPI pipeline aims to transport more than 30 billion cubic metres of gas annually from Turkmenistan to consumers in Pakistan and India as well as relieving shortages in Afghanistan.

President ABF Salim Ghauri expressed the hope the pipeline project, though an ambitious one given the turbulent and instable path to tread would help maintain peace and flourish the region.

The pipeline’s route would take it straight through the region’s most turbulent locales, including conflict-torn Helmand and Kandahar provinces in Afghanistan as well as Quetta in Pakistan where tribal unrest is common, he added. He urged the government to expedite the import of LNG to meet energy shortages in the country, hurting industrial growth badly.

Courtesy:  Daily Times