President Asif Ali Zardari said Pakistan attached great importance to early completion of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project in view of energy crisis in the country.
The President called for stepping up efforts for early completion of all the bilateral projects of Iran and Pakistan, in a meeting with Speaker of Iranian Majlis Ali Larijani, Iran’s SHANA news agency reported.
Spokesperson to the President Senator Farhatullah Babar said the President during the meeting reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to implement expeditiously all mega projects, including the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline.
The President stressed upon the need for devising appropriate mechanisms to finance these critical projects.
There is also a suggestion that Iran will allocate a 500 million dollar credit to the project and the remaining financial needs will be met by collecting taxes from gas consumers in Pakistan.
In addition, it is planned Iranian and Pakistani companies form a joint venture for completion of the pipeline inside Pakistan territory.
Under a contract between the two countries, Iran will export annually 7.8 billion cubic meters of gas to the neighboring country.
[mappress] LNG World News Staff, February 17, 2013