The proposed India-Pakistan pipeline, through which India plans to supply natural gas to Pakistan, may be completed within a year, The Hindu has learnt.
The pipeline, being put in place by the Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL), will start from Gujarat and reach Punjab passing through Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
GAIL will source liquified natural gas (LNG) from international suppliers, which will then be regasified at the LNG terminal at Dahej in Gujarat, for supply to Pakistan.
“The pipeline may be completed in 12 months,” official sources said on Thursday.
India had granted basic customs duty exemption of 5 per cent on regasified LNG for supply to Pakistan in this year’s budget, opening up avenues of expanded energy trade with the neighbour.The proposed project will utilise GAIL’s existing Dadri-Bawana-Nangal pipeline network, which now extends to Jalandhar.
“This may be extended to Lahore via Amritsar by laying a 110-km pipeline of 24-inch diametre,” the sources said.
The pipeline will start at Dahej in Gujarat, pass through Vijaipur in Madhya Pradesh, Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, Bawana in Delhi before reaching Nangal in Punjab.
Mega projectsThe Narendra Modi government has been willing to take forward the project, along with another products pipeline project, originally conceptualised by the Manmohan Singh government, The Hindu had earlier reported.
India’s decision to pipe natural gas and other petroleum products to Pakistan is being seen as a first step towards the revival of two stalled mega projects involving Islamabad — the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline and the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) project.
Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit had told The Hindu last week that both sides were “working overtime to hasten the process”.
