ISLAMABAD, April 13: The Asian Development Bank has termed the long-delayed multi-billion dollar Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline project ‘viable and feasible’. This was announced by federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Amanullah Khan Jadoon at a press conference following the signing of a protocol on the TAP by the three countries at the end of the two-day steering committee meeting of the pipeline here on Wednesday.

Turkmenistan Oil Minister Amangeldi Pudakov and Afghan Minister for Mines and Industry Mir Muhammad Siddique were present on the occasion.

Replying to a question regarding security concerns, the Afghan minister said his country would make all possible efforts to protect the pipeline. He said separate task forces had been formed to provide security to various projects and the government would also provide similar security to the TAP pipeline.

He said the international security forces and the Afghan police force were there. Besides as many as 60,000 people had signed to join the Afghan National Army and they could be deployed whenever needed.

International security forces, he said, were not deployed so far along highways like the Kabul-Torkham-Peshawar, Qandahar-Spin Boldak-Quetta, Kabul-Qandahar and Kabul-Mazar-i- Sharief but could be deployed there if needed.

Regarding the design and route of the $3.3bn 1,600-kilometre pipeline, the ministers said there were yet to be finalized and would depend on the availability of investors and terms and conditions set by them.

When asked if the United States was pressing Pakistan to drop to the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline plan despite the fact that the country could get cheap gas from Iran, Mr Jadoon said a decision on the issue would be taken in the best interest of the country

He said Pakistan was considering four options to meet its future energy needs, the Iran-Pakistan, Qatar- Pakistan and TAP pipelines and the liquefied natural gas. He said the government was well aware of the fact that it had to ensure the smooth supply of energy if it wanted to sustain the present 8 per cent GDP growth.

INDIA: Replying to a question, Mr Jadoon said Pakistan had not formally requested India to join the TAP gas pipeline project but it would no objection if the neighbouring country wanted to join it.

About the certified reserves in the Daulatabad gas field, Mr Jadoon said a consultant of international repute from The US had come with a preliminary report according to which Turkmenistan had enough reserves to meet Pakistan’s requirement of three billion cubic feet a day for 30 years.

However, he added, a detailed report in this regard would come after a month which would make things more clear for the next meeting of the steering committee to be held in Ashakabad in July this year.

Mr Jadoon reiterated Pakistan’s full support for the ADB-coordinated TAP project and assured Turkmenistan and Afghanistan That they would not find Pakistan lacking in meeting their expectations.

During the meeting earlier in the day, the Afghan side briefed the participants on security measures taken by their government. The ADB informed the meeting about the techno-economic aspects of its feasibility study.

Pakistan has been insisting for the past 20 months that Certification of the reserves are needed for the progress of the project. The committee did not meet for 11 months owing to non- availability of the certification, though it is required to meet on a quarterly basis.