Pakistan has accused India of delaying the finalisation of the deal on Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, to cost over $7.5 billion, sources close to Hilal A Raza, Managing Director of Inter State Gas System (ISGS), told Business Recorder.
India has already stepped out of the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline deal after getting civil nuclear technology from the United States (US), and now is delaying the TAPI gas pipeline deal. "India's indecisiveness regarding TAPI gas pipeline deal is a major hurdle in implementing the project", Pakistan's officials conveyed this concern to a visiting Turkmenistan delegation, led by Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet and Minister for Foreign Affairs Rashid Meredov on Wednesday.
"We are ready to provide maximum co-operation in transmitting gas across the border (to India)," Pakistan side stated, adding that "we must expedite process of finalising a deal on TAPI through establishing effective institutional mechanisms". Pakistan has proposed to Turkmenistan to supply gas via Iran by using the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline, instead of laying a pipeline through the war-torn Afghanistan, under swap arrangement.
Experts from both Pakistan and Turkmenistan will review the proposal in the 11th Steering Committee meeting on TAPI gas pipeline project scheduled for September 15-20 in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Under this arrangement, imported gas volume, agreed between Pakistan and Turkmenistan, will be supplied to the northern provinces of Iran, in lieu of which Iran will supply equivalent gas volume through the IP pipeline to Pakistan.
Turkmenistan delegation said that Pakistan was fully committed to early implementation of the TAPI project and considered that the collective and bilateral matters must be streamlined on priority basis to foster progress and prosperity between the two countries. The two sides will also review the status of signing of the Heads of Agreement (HoA) and hold negotiations on the Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) in the Steering Committee meeting scheduled to meet in Turkmenistan next month.
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