The "inter-governmental agreement" (IGA) and the "Gas sales and purchase agreement" (GSPA) were signed by President Asif Ali Zardari, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, Indian Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and President of the Asian Development Bank Haruhiko Kuroda here at a local hotel, almost 15 years after the project was envisioned. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not attend the summit as he was away to attend the India-EU summit at Brussels.
The 1,640 km long Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline backed by the Asian Development Bank will bring 3.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day (bcfd) from Turkmenistan's gas fields to Multan in Central Pakistan and end in the northwestern Indian town of Fazilka.
Construction of the pipeline is likely to commence soon and will be completed by 2013-14. The project would help overcome Pakistan's growing energy crisis that has caused electricity shortages and protests across the country.
President Asif Ali Zardari in a statement to the media said gas connectivity through the project would add to regional prosperity by increasing synergies of economies, and will reinforce the institutional framework for expanding cooperation with each other.
He assured complete security and full support to the multi-billion dollar gas pipeline project and said it would change the development paradigm of the entire region.