The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline is in process of choosing a consortium and once it’s done the project is likely to be completed by 2017-18, a senior External Affairs Ministry official said here today.

“The TAPI gas pipeline is in the process of choosing the consortium for building the pipeline. Once the consortium is chosen the pipeline will be built by 2017-18,” Ajay Bisaria Joint Secretary (Eurasia) in External Affairs Ministry said on the sidelines of a programme here.

Stressing on the need for establishing a much broader economic relation with central Asia, Bisaria said that the matter of establishing an economic corridor via Afghanistan and Pakistan needed to be looked into in the long run.

“Apart from oil and gas, India has multiple objectives. It has civilisation links. We think there shouldn’t be any instability in the region, such as from fundamental regimes to take over. Eventually we hope to develop economic relationship with central Asia,” he said.

“There is a constraint that we do not have a direct link between India and central Asia. The shortest link being via Afghanistan and Pakistan. So what we are saying that in the long run if it is possible to create an economic corridor through the territory of Afghanistan and Pakistan, which will not only be helpful for those countries, but also to India and central Asia,” Bisaria added.

He also noted that lack of physical connectivity between India and central Asia was a problem and India believed in creating connectivity in a broader sense through institutions such as health, IT and education.

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