23.02.2024 19:27
In 1st phase, Islamabad to start work on 80 kilometer part from Iranian border to strategic port area of Gwadar in southwestern Balochistan province.
Pakistan on Friday approved work on the 80-kilometer (49-mile) first phase of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project within its borders to avoid a potential $20 billion penalty.
The Cabinet Committee on Energy approved the project, allowing work to begin from the Iranian border to the strategic port area of Gwadar in southwestern Balochistan province, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
The private company Inter State Gas Systems will carry out the project, which is expected to cost approximately $158 million and will be funded by the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC).
The Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project began in 2013, and several deadlines have already been missed due to long-standing US sanctions against Tehran.
In September last year, a senior Pakistani Petroleum Ministry official told a Senate committee that Islamabad was trying to negotiate with Tehran to avoid a whopping $20 billion in liabilities as the long-stalled project's deadline approaches in 2024.
Last year, Islamabad also approached Washington, requesting a solution to the lingering imbroglio, but received no response.
According to local media, Pakistani authorities have decided to approach the US again for a waiver of its sanctions on the project.
Tehran claims to have completed its side of the pipeline.
In March 2013, Pakistan's then-President Asif Ali Zardari and Iran's then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held a groundbreaking ceremony near Iran's port city of Chahbahar, with an estimated cost of $7.5 billion at that time. -