MARY (TURKMENISTAN): Vice-President Hamid Ansari , Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the leaders of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan on Sunday broke ground here for the $7.6-billion TAPI pipeline project , which will provide energy-hungry India gas for its power plants.

Ansari flew to the ancient city of Mary, 311 km from the capital Ashgabat, which was part of the old Silk Route , to attend the ground-breaking ceremony of the 1800-kilometre TAPI gas pipeline in the presence of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow.

They pushed a button which started the welding process of pipes. They later signed the pipe as well as a document which was put in a capsule and placed under the ground. At the ceremony, held in the Turkmen desert, Berdimuhamedow said he hoped the project gets operational by December 2019. He said the project proved that Turkmenistan could carry such a huge amount of gas to places where it was required.

“Today, we were participants and witnesses of a historic event. Today marks the start of a project of great scale,” he added. “TAPI is designed to become a... powerful driver of economic and social stability in the Asian region,” he said.

The TAPI pipeline will have a capacity to carry 90 million standard cubic metres a day (mmscmd) gas for a 30-year period. India and Pakistan will get 38 mmscmd each, while the remaining 14 mmscmd will be supplied to Afghanistan.

Ansari warned that all stakeholders had to work together to ensure that “negative forces inimical to the success of the project” were addressed in an appropriate manner. “In doing so, we must recognise that the forces of violence and disruption can no longer be allowed to threaten the quest for economic development and security of our people. I am confident that with the active engagement of all four governments, and the support of our international partners, we can overcome such challenges,” he added.

The V-P also praised the role of ministers and officials who had worked hard to achieve the goals, and said petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan exemplified a new generation of politicians who work hard to make India prosperous.

Ansari said the four nations also needed to work together to ensure the technical and commercial viability of the project. “...It is essential to ensure that we can make energy available at the least possible cost to the largest sections of our people,” he added.