KARACHI: Work on Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline faces continuous delay because of lengthy procedures, an official said on Wednesday.
The government was to award consultancy contract for the billion-dollar pipeline to Munich-based ILF Consulting Engineers a month ago, which would have marked the first step toward its construction. Documents for the contract were finally prepared in early September, but they are being redrafted for approval by Petroleum Minister Naveed Qamar and the special steering committee overseeing the project.
“The contract is for bankable feasible study and route survey,” said an official who worked on the project till recently. “The study should have been in our hands by June 2010. We should have been working on the financial close by now. Rules of business have to be followed. One official takes notes and then someone else proposes an action and it comes back with more questions.”
After the court intervention in Mashal LNG Project, senior petroleum ministry officials are wary of pushing ahead their recommendations. The Supreme Court had told off A G Sabri, a senior official of Petroleum Ministry, in the LNG case.
“No one wants to risk his neck. This is such a technical subject with so many complexities involved,” the official said. “Who will take the decisions in such a situation?” Pakistan will import 750 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) of gas from Iran through the pipeline. Foreign consultants along with National Engineering Services Pakistan Limited (Nespak) will have to prepare feasibility within 12 months after they get the contract.
Work on the $1.5 billion pipeline, which will zigzag 1900 kilometer from Iran’s South Pars field to Sindh, is pending for years even as Pakistan spends about $10 billion every year to import oil. There are different routes being considered for the project but the likely path will be through Balochistan’s Gwadar district.
Iran has already started construction on its part of the pipeline. The government is pushing ahead with the project even as concerns loom over dealing with Iran, which has been slapped with UN sanctions over its controversial nuclear programme.
Government officials have started talking about Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, while the IP pipeline project faces delay.
Domestic gas production stands at 4 billion cubic-feet per day, while demand stands at around 4800mmcfd, according to some estimates. The security of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline remains a big issue. Baloch militants who demand greater provincial autonomy attack gas pipeline infrastructure regularly.
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