Pakistan Says IP Gas Pipeline Still on Agenda
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan said Islamabad has not abandoned a project on a pipeline supplying the country with Iranian natural gas.
Pakistan will pursue the construction of Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline once international sanctions against Tehran are removed, the Pakistani minister said on Friday.
“A gas pipeline that is going to be laid from Gwadar to Nawabshah can be extended by 11 kilometers to Iran,” he was quoted by the Express Tribune as saying.
Iran and Pakistan signed an agreement for the construction of the gas pipeline in 1995.
The IP pipeline is designed to help Pakistan overcome its growing energy needs at a time when the country of over 180 million people is grappling with serious energy shortages.
The final construction phase of the IP pipeline was inaugurated on March 11, 2013. Iran has already built 900 kilometers of the pipeline on its soil.
Pakistan, however, has fallen short of constructing the 700-kilometer part of the pipeline on its territory.
According to the deal, if any of the parties does not fulfill its obligation to complete the pipeline on its side by the end of 2014, it has to pay a daily penalty of $3 million to the other side until completion.
