Gas supply and purchase agreement with Turkmenistan: terms and conditions finalised, National Assembly told

The government on Monday informed National Assembly that terms and conditions for gas supply and purchase agreement between Pakistan and Turkmenistan have been finalised, which is expected to be signed this month subject to approval by respective authorities.
This was stated by Parliamentary Secretary for Petroleum and Natural Resources Tariq Khattak during question hour, saying that governments of four participating countries in TAPI project ie Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India have signed the political agreements-Inter-Governmental Agreement-IGA and Gas Pipeline framework Agreement-GPFA on December 11, 2010 for implementation of the project.
Further the commercial entities from Turkmenistan (Turkmen Gas) and Pakistan (Inter-State Gas System Ltd- ISGS) have already singed the Heads of Agreement-HOA for Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement-GSPA, he added. The House was told that the terms and conditions of bilaterally GSPA between ISGS and Turkmen Gas have been finalised and planned to be signed by the end of this month subject to the approval by the respective authorities.
The Minister also told the House that preparatory work on Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project has been completed and the actual work would begin on Pakistani side for lying of the pipeline after completion of the tendering process.
He said the Iranian gas would be inducted into the system of the Sui Southern Gas Pipeline Limited at Nawabshah where it would be utilised for power generation. He said the Iranian gas will generate 40,000 MW electricity, which will help in eradicating power load-shedding.
To a supplementary question, he said that the price of CNG has been increased six times since January 2008, whereas price of petrol and kerosene increased by 21 times each and that of diesel by 24 times during this period on account of increase in international prices.
Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Maula Bakhsh Chandio told the House that there was no proposal under consideration of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to constitute new constituencies, but an exercise was underway for minor changes in the existing limits of the constituencies to make them compatible with new electoral rolls.
He said that the ECP has set up a committee to undertake the word relating to re-description of existing constituencies of the National and Provincial Assemblies, the report of which is expected to be submitted in a month. To a supplementary he said the new voters lists were expected to be finalised in March next year.
Minister for Science and Technology Mir Changez Khan Jamali told the House that a water disinfection tablet with trademark of "Mahfooz Pani" has been developed having capability of disinfecting 20 litres of drinking water with one tablet. A packing of 30 tablets would cost 75 rupee and efficacy of the tablet has been tested by relevant organisations.
He said Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research has invented 253 technologies and process in various industrial disciplines, of which 135 have been commercialised while 118 were under process for the purpose. He said the Pakistan Council of Renewable Energies Technologies has installed more than 550 micro hydel power plants with total generation capacity of nine megawatts electrifying eighty thousand households.
It has also installed 155 small wind turbines with a total capacity of 100 KW in Sindh and Balochistan, electrifying more than 1550 hourse, he said, adding that 300 hundred solar PV systems have also been installed to electrify 500 houses, mosques and schools besides 4000 biogas plants.
The Minister said Pakistan Science Foundation has developed some process and technologies at lab scale and further research is required for their commercialisation. These include green tea processing; design, fabrication and installation of photovoltaic system and solar dryer for apricot, he added.