Bharat Rakshak

The study, commissioned by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and conducted by British-based consultants Penspen, “serves to speed up the start of realising the plan for a trans-Afghan gas pipeline 1,680 kilometres long” to the Indian city of Fazilka, near the Pakistani-Indian border, Turkmenistan’s Foreign Ministry said. The study envisages a pipeline measuring 1.4 metres in diameter that would carry 116 billion cubic feet of gas per year, the ministry said.

Construction would cost $3.3 billion. “It is proposed to start construction of the trans-Afghan pipeline upon completion of the legal base of the project in 2006,” the ministry said in a statement.

Critics have cast doubt on the idea, however, due to war-torn Afghanistan’s instability and ongoing tensions between Pakistan and India. India’s participation is seen by many as vital to the project’s economic viability.

"The challenge before the Ministries of External Affairs and Petroleum is to engage in a deeper diplomatic dialogue with the principal African countries so that the traditional goodwill is leveraged into long-term energy-based engagement," he {Natwar Singh} noted.