According to the official, the groundbreaking ceremony will be attended by the prime ministers of Pakistan and India, Afghan President and other leaders for which invitations have been sent by Turkmenistan government. He said that work on the upstream and downstream of the project will start simultaneously; adding that development of the upstream will cost $10 billions, while downstream development is estimated at $10-12 billions.
According to officials, as per agreement, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan will have 5 percent obligatory shares in the project, while Turkmengaz being the lead financer of the project will have obligatory 51 percent shares and rest 34 percent will be available to other partner countries. The pipeline has attracted many international companies to invest while Japanese Prime Minister has also shown interest in laying of the gas pipeline which will cost $10 billion, the officials said.
TAPI Ltd operating company includes Turkmengaz State Concern, Afghan Gas Corporation, Pakistan's Inter State Gas Systems (Private) Limited and Indian GAIL (India) Limited with equal shares. The pipeline starting from Turkmenistan will pass through Herat, Qandahar, Chaman, Quetta and Dera Ghazi Khan to Multan to India will be completed within three years by December 2018.
The official said that in a recent held meeting of the stakeholders in Dubai the partners discussed India's concerns regarding if at any time after the construction of pipeline the gas is disconnected to India as a result of security reasons in Afghanistan and Pakistan than what would be the mode of compensation to India? The government of Pakistan and Afghanistan has assured Indian government that both the countries will make foolproof security arrangements for the gas transportation, the official added.
Replying to a question over the security of the TAPI pipeline, he said that Afghanistan government has assured the partners of providing fool proof security of the project, adding that the laying of the project will give Afghanistan an estimated $600 millions per year as transit fee. He said that Turkmenistan state owned company Turkmengaz will lead the consortium for a 1,735-kilometres long pipeline carrying gas from the Central Asian energy-rich state to energy-starved India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"The state company 'Turkmengaz in its capacity as lead consortium for the TAPI will oversee co-ordination in the construction, financing, ownership and operation of the TAPI pipeline," the minister maintained. Pakistan's energy needs in future will not only be accomplished by TAPI, but Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline as well as construction of more Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals in Karachi and Gwadar which are also under consideration. China will construct a gas pipeline in Pakistan, while another LNG pipeline with a capacity to transport 1.2 BCFD of gas from Karachi to Lahore will be constructed by Russia at a cost of $2.5 billion for which an agreement has already been signed.