IP pipeline: Iranian diplomat vows timely completion

110 million cubic feet of gas will be available to Pakistan per day under the project, says Darvishvand.

ISLAMABAD:

Despite increasing pressure from the United States, Iranian Consul General Hassan Darvishvand has said that the long awaited Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline is to be completed “at all costs” by the end of 2014.

Darvishvand said that 110 million cubic feet of gas will be available to Pakistan per day under the project. This, he added, would solve much of the gas shortage in the energy-starved country, The Meher News Agency quoted. He said the pipeline, originating from Iran’s Faras province, would extend over a distance of 1,100 kilometres (km) within Iran, adding that a mere 100 km worth of work is left on the Iranian side of the project.

He said 780 km of pipeline will be laid within Pakistan and construction work began a month ago. The cost of the project in Pakistan was around $1.5 billion, out of which $500 million will be provided by Iran, while the rest of the cost will be met by the host country, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2013.

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