Pakistan and India on Friday agreed to complete the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline by the year 2012 before Iran starts exporting gas the following year. “We have agreed on the principles about the structure of the pipeline company to execute and manage the project, transportation tariff and transit fee of the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project,” the Indian petroleum minister, Mr Murli Deora, and his Pakistani counterpart, Mr Khawaja Mohammad Asif, told Media.
“It may need a few weeks to sign the agreement formally. But there is a complete consensus on the fundamental issues of the project,” Khawaja Asif said. A day earlier, on Thursday, Pakistan, India, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan had agreed to start construction of a gas pipeline project involving the four nations in the year 2010. Under the IPI gas pipeline project, Iran would begin the export of gas to Pakistan by the end of 2013. The project cost is estimated at $7.5 billion