Asian Development Bank (ADB) country director for Afghanistan Samuel Tumiwa has said the bank is committed in financing the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan (TAP) power project.

He said that the economic cooperation will also help to enhance partnerships and improve stability in the region.

“The Asian Development Bank is committed to financing TAP. We have put aside some money to finance it. Asides from the benefits from greater electrification, it is also good economic cooperation between the countries. So when we have good economic cooperation between the countries, the case is so strong that everything else, security issues and political issues get sidelined and you get good cooperation between these countries which will bring stability in the region,” he said.

Meanwhile, officials from the power supplying company Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) have said that with the implementation of TAP project, people of certain areas lying on the TAP route will benefit from the electricity available through the project.

TAP Overview

TAP 500 KV Power Project (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan) is one of the most important regional energy projects. The memorandum of understanding for the project was signed in December 2015 between Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

TAP is a 500-kV transmission line project which falls under the framework of Central Asia Regional Electricity Market (CASAREM). TAP and TAPI are separate projects but will have the same routing.

According to DABS, the financial expenditure on the Afghan section of the project will cost an estimated $70 million USD.

“We can supply extra electricity to our citizens from the sub stations which will be built in Herat, Kandahar and Helmand,” said DABS spokesman Wahidullah Waisi.

Afghanistan is expected to receive $50 million USD in transit duties from the TAP project annually.

This comes a week after work on the Afghanistan section of the TAPI gas pipeline project was launched in Herat province.

TAPI will transport gas from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India via a 1,814-km pipeline.

In Afghanistan, the TAPI pipeline will be constructed alongside the Kandahar–Herat Highway in western Afghanistan, and then via Quetta and Multan in Pakistan.

The final destination of the pipeline will be the Indian town of Fazilka, near its border with Pakistan.

Afghanistan is expected to earn $500 million USD in transit duties annually from the TAPI project.



The pipeline will transfer 33 billion cubic meters of gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India through Herat, Farah, Helmand and Nimroz provinces of Afghanistan.