ASHGABAT: Turkmenistan will start building a $10 billion natural gas pipeline to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan in early December, a Turkmen government official told Reuters on Tuesday.

The Turkmen stretch of the TAPI pipeline, named after the countries it is designed to cross, will be built by a Turkmen state company with experience in building oil and gas pipelines, the official said on condition of anonymity.

State gas monopoly Turkmengas, selected in August to lead the TAPI consortium, will be joined by international energy companies “at a later stage”, the official said. He gave no further details.

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