Islamabad will complete IP gas pipeline project: Pakistan min.
Technicians are welding the Iranian section of the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline to its Pakistani section along Iran-Pakistan border. (File photo)
Pakistani minister of petroleum and natural resources has stressed the importance of the multi-billion-dollar pipeline projected to carry natural gas from Iran to its eastern neighbor, stating that Islamabad will complete the project regardless of any domestic or foreign pressure.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said on Monday that the gas project would cost around USD 1.5 billion, which would be raised through Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDS).
Å“Though the Islamabad High Court has stayed the GIDS, the problem would be resolved soon. The government has also sorted out some other internal sources of funding in this regard,” he said.
Abbasi further noted that the IP gas pipeline would be completed soon and Pakistan could get one billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from Iran.
On June 20, Pakistanâ„¢s Foreign Office Spokesman Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said the gas pipeline is the key option to relieve energy shortages in Pakistan.
The final construction phase of the pipeline was inaugurated on March 11.
Iran has already built 900 kilometers of the pipeline on its soil and is helping to build the 700-kilometer part of the pipeline on the Pakistani side.
The IP pipeline is designed to help Pakistan to overcome its growing energy needs at a time when the country of over 180 million people is grappling with serious energy shortages.
Pakistani Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal said in early June that the new Pakistani government will continue the joint gas pipeline project with Iran, saying the issue of energy is Islamabadâ„¢s top priority.
MP/KA/SS
Republished from: Press TV