NEW DELHI, 18 December 2005— The construction of an Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline will begin by mid-2007. The pipeline is expected to come into operation by the end of 2010. These decisions were taken at a two-day meeting of the Indo-Pak Joint Working Group on the $7 billion project.
Addressing a news conference, Pakistan’s Petroleum Secretary Ahmad Waqar said: “We don’t see any stumbling block. We are moving ahead and, God willing, the project will see the light of the day.” Along the same note, Indian Petroleum Secretary S.C. Tripathi said that India needed the project for its energy security and was working on it. Waqar and Tripathi led their respective sides in the talks that ended yesterday.
In the initial phase, India will draw 60 million standard cubic meters per day from the over 2,100-km-long pipeline and increase it to 90 mscmd in next 2 to 3 years. Pakistan will start with 30 mscmd and double its intake by 2013, according to Waqar.
India, Iran and Pakistan will hold the first trilateral meeting in early February in Tehran. Until now, they have been holding only bilateral meetings on the project — India-Pakistan, India-Iran and Pakistan-Iran. The trilateral meeting would deliberate on integrated feasibility study, project structure and a tripartite framework agreement. “The project structure (how the project will be built and operated) and the framework agreement will be finalized by April 2006,” Tripathi said.
A third Joint Working Group (JWG) and a technical sub-working group would be set up to sort out issues like transportation tariff, transit fee payable to Pakistan, system configuration, pipeline route and pricing mechanism, according to Waqar.
The sub-group would meet every month to resolve the issue before the next JWG meeting in early March 2006.
“We have achieved good progress and we (will) continue to meet to finalize all outstanding issues. This project is essential for economic growth and energy security of both countries,” Waqar said.
In about two weeks, Pakistan will appoint consultants to advise it on financial, technical, legal and commercial issues pertaining to the project, Waqar said. Absence of consultants prevented Islamabad from responding to India’s suggestion that the project be built and operated by state-owned companies of the three countries along with an international firm.
India will appoint a legal consultant in the next few days. It has already appointed financial and technical consultants.
Iran has identified certain blocks of gas in the gigantic South Pars field in the Gulf that will be exploited by the proposed pipeline project. Tehran has also agreed to international certification of reserves, Waqar said.
The proposal to build the pipeline has been on the drawing board for years but uneasy relations between nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India prevented any progress. Indian officials are also concerned the project would take gas across volatile areas of Pakistan where other pipelines have been attacked in the past.
Peace talks between India and Pakistan revived hopes for the pipeline two years ago but the project faces opposition from the United States, which accuses Iran of seeking nuclear arms, funding anti-Israeli militias and stirring militant attacks against US forces in Iraq.
Help Sought in Developing N-Energy
Fuel-hungry India said yesterday it was hopeful it would soon be able to get international help to develop its civilian nuclear energy capabilities. “I am optimistic through constructive dialogue with the international community, we will soon be part of the mainstream with full civilian nuclear cooperation,” said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In July India signed a landmark deal with the United States that would give it access to atomic technology, which it has been denied since first testing a nuclear weapon in 1974 and refusing to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
But the pact, which must be approved by the US Congress, is opposed by many US lawmakers as well as nuclear experts who say it undermines anti-nuclear proliferation efforts.
Manmohan’s comments came ahead of a second meeting of the Nuclear Working Group headed by Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, which is thrashing out details of the accord. The meeting is due to be held Wednesday and Thursday in Washington.
As part of its commitment under the deal, New Delhi must separate its military and civilian nuclear operations, permit international inspections of its civilian nuclear program and carry out no more nuclear tests.
The aim is to ensure that US nuclear help for India’s civilian energy efforts does not assist the country’s arms program.
“Our non-proliferation record and our scientific credentials will only add to India’s weight in the international cooperative endeavor to harness all the applications of nuclear energy for the country’s social and economic development, for meeting our growing energy needs,” Manmohan said.
The prime minister’s statements at a function in the city of Indore were reported by the Press Trust of India.
India, which imports 70 percent of its fuel needs, is seeking to broaden its fuel sources to sustain its booming economy.
If the pact wins clearance, India could get nuclear fuel and reactor components from the United States and other nations.
The agreement must also get the nod from the 44-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, an informal body whose members have voluntarily agreed to coordinate their export controls governing transfers of civilian nuclear material.
But in the wake of the deal with the United States, both Britain and France which are members of the group have said they will relax controls on the export of civilian nuclear technology to India.
Nuclear power supplies some three percent of the fuel needs of the nation of more than one billion people but New Delhi aims to raise this to 25 percent by mid-century.
Earlier this week, Manmohan said he expected the administration of President George Bush to use its “full weight” to get Congress to approve the deal.
— Additional input from agencies
