Kabul, Mar 11 (IANS): The Taliban government said work on the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India (TAPI) gas pipeline will resume soon and rejected a media report claiming the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has paused all activities related to the project.

The report by a Pakistani news outlet citing an official from the country's Energy Ministry said the ADB had "paused all due diligence and processing activities of TAPI pending the official recognition of the Islamic Emirate by the UN and major global economies".

On Thursday, Ahmad Wali Haqmal, a spokesman for the Taliban's Ministry of Finance, rejected the report and said the ADB was active in a consultative capacity while is it "mainly owned by Turkmenistan", TOLO News reported.

The TAPI gas pipeline is planned to span 1,680 km and connect Afghanistan's Herat and Kandahar provinces with Pakistan and India.

Afghanistan will pay 5 per cent of the project's expenses.

Earlier the Islamic Emirate had announced that it will resume the TAPI pipeline project this spring.