Govt backpedals on IP project as US curbs loom

Firms avoiding the project in the face of the US-Tehran standoff: Abbasi.

ISLAMABAD:

No local and international firm is interested in taking up the Iran pipeline project against the backdrop of sanctions, Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told members of the Senate.

In response to a question posed by Pakistan Peoples’ Party Parliamentarian Senator Syeda Sughra Imam, the minister said local firms cannot start work on the pipeline due to fear of international sanctions. The Iranian company which promised to build the pipeline withdrew its offer due to multiple reasons such as inflation and time duration, Abbasi added.



Kishanganga project by India

In a written reply to the Senate, Water and Power Minister Khwaja Asif said the implementation of the Kishanganga project will result in a shortfall of about 14 per cent in the flow of the River Neelum for Pakistan’s Neelum-Jhelum hydroelectric project.

If this project is implemented by India, “it will reduce power generation by 13 per cent or 700 million units”, said Abbasi, answering queries on behalf of Asif. He said the dam is under construction in India and has a gross capacity of 8,755 acre feet.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2013.