Iran and Pakistan have signed an accord to lay a gas pipeline for taking Iranian gas to Pakistan. Christened as the Peace Pipeline, the accord was signed by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari in Tehran. The project will help to transfer 150 million cubic metres of gas a day. Construction of the 56-inch-thick pipeline will be completed in five years.
Iran has stated that it is ready for India’s participation as a third partner in the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project that has been finalised. There would be no obstacle for India’s joining to the deal
Terms of Agreement
As per the terms of the accord, the 2,700-km pipeline would transfer Iranian gas to India, through Pakistan. The text of the accord included an article that would allow India to join the project at an appropriate time.
It is said that the project was conceptually attractive, but the turbulence in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province posed practical difficulties in its implementation.
The Project
The project was conceived in 1995 and after almost 13 years India finally decided to quit the project in 2008 despite a severe energy crises in that country. Pakistan is also facing severe criticism from the US over any kind of economic deal with Iran.
In fact, the sudden change of stance from the Pakistani government and the pace of developments at the project suggest that the strong US opposition has softened.
According to the initial design of the project, the 2,700 km-long pipeline would cover around 1,100 km in Iran, 1000 km in Pakistan and around 600 km in India, and the size of the pipeline was estimated to be 56 inches in diameter.
No comments:
Post a Comment