The new government in Pakistan under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan intends to complete the long-delayed Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, the country’s Minister of Petroleum Ghulam Sarwar Khan said.
Addressing the press in Islamabad, Sarwar Khan said his government will do all it can to complete part of the pipeline that passes from Pakistani territory, IRNA reported on Saturday.
"An Iranian delegation recently visited Pakistan to discuss the IP project. Pakistan is willing to complete the gas pipeline as it needs energy,” the minister said without providing details.
For years the two neighbors have been struggling to complete the gas pipeline to help resolve Pakistan’s mounting electricity problems.
The IP pipeline project - also called Peace Pipeline - is a 1,957 kilometer pipeline that will deliver natural gas from Iran’s South Pars fields to Pakistan's two major cities -- Karachi and Multan.
Tehran has fulfilled its commitment regarding construction of the gas pipeline inside Iranian territory (1,172km pipeline from Asalouyeh to the joint border) and is waiting for Islamabad to do its share and complete the 785km on its territory.
When the project is complete, Iran will initially transfer 30 million cubic meters of gas per day and eventually increase supplies to 60mcm per day.
Sarwar Khan noted that he has an invitation from his Iranian counterpart to visit Tehran.
Referring to the US sanctions on Iran, he said, “The Pakistan government makes decision based on its own interests”.
Pakistan needs Iran gas to feed its power plants and help improve its power sector that is in an eternal state of crisis.
According to Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, from chronic load shedding to electricity theft, heavy transmission and distribution losses to massive non-payment of built-up dues, the sector is prone to every problem imaginable despite attempts by various governments over the years to fix the system and provide some relief to the populace.
Over 140 million Pakistanis (of the total 197 million population) either have no access to the power grid or suffer over 12 hours of load shedding daily.
The average shortfall in the power sector is 4,000 megawatts, and nearly 57 million cubic meters per day in the natural gas sector.
