ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: Work on country’s first Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal would start soon and $20 million have already been spent on the project, the chairman Board of Investment (BoI) was informed here on Friday.

Ahmet Caliskan, Chairman, Global Energy Infrastructure (GEI), in a meeting with BoI chief Salim Mandviwala informed about the status of integrated LNG project of the country.

Mr Caliskan stated that the LNG terminal to be established at Port Qasim would not only have interconnection pipeline upto the Sui Southern main line, it would also have re-gasification units.

The total cost of the project is estimated between $350-$450 million that would be part of FDI in the country, and the company has also arranged bridge financing from two equity groups in Turkey to cover the whole cost of the country.

“This ensured that the company has access to funds at all times during the construction phase,” Mr Caliskan said.

He said that all prerequisites for start of construction activities have been completed, including arranging insurance cover for construction and operations phases, completing pre-construction works ad awarding EPC contract, securing LNG supplies from producers around the globe. And regulatory approvals from various government departments have also been obtained.

Meanwhile, in another development the government is considering that SNGPL – SSGC joint venture company should be established with major shareholding of the federal government that should undertake infrastructure development for the LNG import.

Dr. Asim Hussain, advisor to the Prime Minister on Petroleum, said that the country needs to enhance gas supply to various sectors and is pursuing the LNG import project.

He said this while chairing the first meeting of the Committee on LNG Infrastructure project constituted by the Prime Minister.

The committee members were briefed on LNG import project and previous decisions of ECC on the issue.

Detailed discussions were held on the framework for import of LNG including Fast-track Imports and the Long Term Import components.

The committee agreed that LNG import projects are necessary in view of current energy crisis.

It was also recommended that import initiatives already undertaken by the SSGC are to run parallel to infrastructure development so that LNG could be imported as early as possible.