With Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s presence at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing in ceremony having given a fresh impetus to bilateral relations between both the countries, the Islamic nation’s requirement for gas through the proposed India-Pakistan pipeline is to be among the major agenda items when both the leaders will meet on Tuesday for talks.
Official sources informed that the proposed gas pipeline that is likely to be laid between Jalandhar and Wagah border via Amritsar is among the various topics of discussion between the two leaders scheduled for May 27. The pipeline, if it comes up, will help in fulfilling Pakistan’s urgent requirement of the natural resource.
Sources added that the India-Pakistan pipeline issue has been pushed in the agenda of bilateral discussions between Modi and Sharif, as with the arrival of a new dispensation at the Centre, it could help form a fulcrum for enhancing energy cooperation between the two nations.
“We have pushed it in the agenda and it is now for the two leaders to take it forward,” an official privy to the development said.
The Pioneer had first reported on November 5, 2013 that Islamabad had sought New Delhi’s help in sourcing gas through the proposed India-Pakistan pipeline since that country is highly energy deficient and urgently requires the natural resource to fire up its power plants and meet other needs.
The proposed pipeline is going to be 110 kilometres long and will start from Jalandhar in Punjab and will terminate near Wagah (the international border between India and Pakistan) via Amritsar. Sources said that this was the shortest route possible for the project.
GAIl plans to import liquefied natural gas (lNG) which after being converted into gaseous form, would be transported to Pakistan through the proposed pipeline from Jalandhar to Wagah.
In fact in 2013 itself a few rounds of talks between State-owned GAIl and Pakistan’s inter state gas agency had been held. The last round of negotiations were held in July 2013 when a delegation consisting of GAIl officials and representatives of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) had gone to lahore.
Meanwhile along with the India-Pakistan pipeline, the long pending Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) is also part of the agenda between the two Prime Ministers for their May 27 talks.
Sources added that TAPI is also a point of discussion as the $9 billion worth project has been hanging fire since quite some time owing to road blocks in the formation of a consortium which has to be set up to build and manage the pipeline.
All the four countries have to take responsibility for ensuring its security as it passes through volatile territories.
According to Petroleum Ministry sources, Turkmenistan has indicated to New Delhi that a consortium leader is to be finalised soon and once this happens then the project can move forward.
The TAPI pipeline is to start from Dauletabad gas field in southeast Turkmenistan and after crossing a 145-km stretch in the country will enter Afghanistan. It will cover about 735 km in Afghanistan and about 800 km in Pakistan before entering the Indian boarder in Punjab.