Indian Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has said that the work on Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project can start next year and may be completed in 5 years, at a cost of $5 billion. Speaking at 'meet the press' programme of Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Wednesday, he said that with the availability of foreign exchange reserves, with India $140 billion and Pakistan over $12 billion, the two countries need not look up to at any other country for financial help.
He said that Pakistan and India could carry on with the project, if no one came to support them.
The Indian minister said that if both countries (Pakistan and India) go shoulder to shoulder, they can become the biggest gas importers of the world.
He said that the gas pipeline project is highly imperative for Pakistan and India as it would help India to switch over to gas-based operation which, at present, has a share of only 7 percent in the energy basket and the rest of the demand is met through hydel and nuclear and other sources of power generation.
He said this project would help Pakistan to meet its growing demand for gas whose share in energy basket is 50 percent, but according to him the gas reserves in Pakistan are declining. Shankar said that India is consuming 85 million units gas per day as against its demand of 170 million units and during the next 20 years the demand would rise to 400 million units per day.
He said that gas reserves has been discovered in Bay of Bengal but he said that during the next 20 years, it can attain maximum 200 million units with gas finds at home.
He said that that Pakistan is producing gas according to its local requirement but after a couple of years its gas production will start declining and it will go down by the year 2025, unless new reserves are discovered.
He said that with the growth rate of 8.4 percent in Pakistan gas would have to be imported in next few years. He said that by the year 2025 demand for gas in Pakistan would increase to around 300 million units per day and 200 million units per day in India.
"With the demand of 500 million unit gas Pakistan and India could become the biggest gas importer in the world", he said.
"We can also import gas from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian states", he said, adding that they have discussed with the Uzbek president regarding gas supply.
The Indian minister said that this gas pipeline project could help to alleviate poverty and generate employment opportunities for the people of both countries.
He said that the present bilateral talks are ongoing between Pakistan-India, Pakistan-Iran and India-Iran and after the finalisation of these bilateral talks, trilateral talks among Pakistan, India and Iran would be start by the end of this year.
He said that other joint venture could be started between Pakistan and India after completion of this pipeline project.
Earlier, President of KPC, Sabihuddin Ghausi, and Secretary Najeeb Ahmed also spoke.