KARACHI, June 8: The Indian Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Mani Shankar Aiyar, has said that the Indian consulate in Karachi and the Khokhrapar-Monabao rail route will hopefully be made operational before end of the current year. Mr Aiyar was talking to Dawn at a reception hosted for him at a local hotel on Wednesday.
Overwhelmed by nostalgic feelings of his three-year stay in Karachi 23 years back as the Indian consul general, Mr Aiyar said: “I had a lovely time here. The friendship which I nurtured 25 years back has now come to full blossom. Since returning home I have travelled to Pakistan 16 times.”
The Indian Minister also referred the India, Pakistan and Iran gas pipeline story recalling that according to projected requirement of energy in year 2025 Pakistan and India would need 500 million SCM gas per day. In view of the energy requirement the idea of the pipeline was first mooted in 1978 which remained in the air for almost 17 years and now got a huge breakthrough within 72 hours during his meetings with President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Petroleum Minister Amanullah Jadoon.
Former information minister Javed Jabbar, welcoming Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, said that he had left deep imprints “on all of us who is not only an outstanding citizen of his country but in a very short period had established himself as high calibre diplomat, politician and writer of many books and an eminent analysts on affairs of South Asia”.
Earlier, speaking in the ‘Meet the Press’ programme at the Karachi Press Club, Mr Mani said the fate of the pipeline hinged on Pakistan’s decision by December this year after which the project could get off the ground next year.
But before that all the contractual documents had to be completed, he said making it clear that it did not mean that actual construction on the project would commence early next year. Mr Aiyar told a questioner that so far no consortium had been formed for the project and added that the routing of the pipeline would be discussed by technical experts who would also take into account the seismic details etc. He did not agree with suggestions that the project was being delayed due to American pressure.
Mr Aiyar said he had favoured the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline to pass through the Mekran coast rather than the desert areas of Balochistan that were more earthquake prone and by adopting that route more than 800 bridges over rivers would have to be constructed, increasing the cost.
He gave an overview of the energy needs and resources of both Indian and Pakistan and said that both the countries should team up in striking deals for meeting their future energy needs in the international market.
He said that he had been informed that Pakistan was self-reliant in gas, but it would reach at its peak in the next couple of years after which the gas production would start declining and it would go down considerably by the year 2025, unless new finds were discovered.
He observed that by 2015 the demand for gas both by India and Pakistan would almost equalise. By the year 2025 the demand for gas in Pakistan would increase to around 300 million units per day and 200 million units per day in India.
Mr Aiyar said he had invited his Pakistani counterpart Amanullah Khan Jadoon to India by the end of August and he would return here in October or November to take the dialogue process forward.
He said the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline could be expanded to include India and Uzbekistan.
He said that in his meetings with the top leadership in Islamabad, he told them that gas could also be imported from Turkministan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. He said the Uzbek president during his visit to India had told them that they could supply gas.
As regards the security aspect for the proposed pipeline, Mr Aiyar said it was no problem and the mater could be sorted out.
Earlier Sabihuddin Ghousi, president, and Najib Ahmed, secretary of the KPC welcomed the distinguished visitor.
