March 14, 2002	Thursday	Zilhaj 29, 1422

PESHAWAR, March 13: Physical survey for designing the 950-mile long gas pipeline project between Pakistan and Iran got under way last week, senior government functionaries said here on Wednesday.

BHP of Australia, an Australian company, is conducting the survey of the multi-billion rupee project of laying pipeline to supply natural gas from the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas to Multan (Punjab) and presumably onward to India. Survey is expected to be completed in three months.

Managing director, Sui Norhern Gas Pipelines, A. Rashid Lone, told a press conference here on Wednesday that preliminary survey of the project, costing $1 million, was started last week and Iranian government would bear its expenditures.

He said the estimated cost of Multan-Bandar Abbas gas pipeline was $2 billion to be completed by 2008. The project cost would go up to $3.5 billion if the project is extended to India from Multan, according to the SNGPL official.