Afghanistan open for business - lots of it

Abu Dhabi - UAE investors signify interest in Tapi gas pipeline project

A number of UAE investors have shown interest in the multi-billion dollar Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India gas pipeline project, Afghanistan's ambassador to the UAE said.
Speaking to Khaleej Times, Abdul Farid Zikria said that the project, known as the Tapi gas pipeline, is a major infrastructure project in the energy-hungry region in that part of Asia that would change the development scene in times to come.
"Afghanistan will be offering vitally-important transit facilities before the pipeline will go into Pakistan and Afghanistan - the two main consumers of natural gas," he said.
The natural gas fields are owned by Turkismenistan.
Any investment from the UAE and some of the private investors would be into the entire project, he said. All the four countries have formed a company to take up the project and each has its ownership in the company. Other partners include the Asian Development Bank and some private investors.
Zikria said that Afghanistan, which has very cordial bilateral relations with the UAE, has a lot of development projects built by the UAE in the last 15 years. There are a number of educational and health institutions developed by different UAE agencies, apart from infrastructure projects already serving millions of Afghans. There are several that are underway including a $200 million housing project in the capital Kabul, which comprises 3,400 housing units. At present, the project is 80 per cent complete and is expected to be handed over by year-end.
Afghanistan, a landlocked country, needs dry ports. Dubai's port developer DP World is interested in the construction of dry ports on the borders with Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Uzbekistan. "Right now we are in discussions with them... we are trying to get detailed proposals on the proposed projects," the ambassador said.
Afghanistan, which has a huge hydropower generation potential, has prepared technical and financial feasibility studies on different projects, to generate about 2,000 MW of hydel energy in the five to 10 years.
The projects require up to $3 billion in investments, he said. "We are going to offer those projects to the UAE and regional development agencies, and institutional investors for raising necessary funding."
Also, in the sphere of renewable energy, Afghanistan wants to raise 200MW of solar power with foreign funding and technical collaboration, the ambassador said. The idea is to set up units with the capacity to generate five to 20MW of solar power in different cities and towns to provide energy to rural communities.
"We are planning to do road shows to present these projects to the governmental and private investors," the ambassador said.
Afghanistan, which has more than $1 trillion worth of mineral resources, also seeks foreign investment to explore the hidden wealth, Zikria said. "This would be an area where we would be presenting our proposals to the potential investors here."
- haseeb@khaleejtimes.com