- ...Mr Razim said US energy company Unocal was the 'lead
company' among those that would build the pipeline. . . . "Unocal
is not involved in any projects (including pipelines) in Afghanistan, nor
do we have any plans to become involved, nor are we discussing any such
projects," a spokesman told BBC News Online. . . . The pipeline is
expected to be built with funds from donor countries for the reconstruction
of Afghanistan as well as ADB (Afghanistan Development Bank) loans.
-
-
- Afghanistan hopes to strike a deal later this month to
build a $2 billion pipeline through the country to take gas from energy-rich
Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India.
-
- Afghan interim ruler Hamid Karzai is to hold talks with
his Pakistani and Turkmenistan counterparts later this month on Afghanistan's
biggest foreign investment project, said Mohammad Alim Razim, minister
for Mines and Industries told Reuters.
-
- "The work on the project will start after an agreement
is expected to be struck at the coming summit," Mr Razim said.
-
- The construction of the 850-kilometre pipeline had been
previously discussed between Afghanistan's former Taliban regime, US oil
company Unocal and Bridas of Argentina.
-
- The project was abandoned after the US launched missile
attacks on Afghanistan in 1999.
-
- US company preferred
-
- Mr Razim said US energy company Unocal was the "lead
company" among those that would build the pipeline, which would bring
30bn cubic meters of Turkmen gas to market annually.
-
- Unocal - which led a consortium of companies from Saudi
Arabia, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Japan and South Korea - has maintained
the project is both economically and technically feasible once Afghan stability
was secured.
-
- "Unocal is not involved in any projects (including
pipelines) in Afghanistan, nor do we have any plans to become involved,
nor are we discussing any such projects," a spokesman told BBC News
Online.
-
- The US company formally withdrew from the consortium
in 1998.
-
- "The Afghan side assures all sides about the security
of the pipeline and will take all responsibilities for it," Mr Razim
said.
-
- Reconstructing
-
- Afghanistan plans to build a road linking Turkmenistan
with Pakistan parallel to the pipeline, to supply nearby villages with
gas, and also to pump Afghan gas for export, Mr Razim said.
-
- The government would also earn transit fees from the
export of gas and oil and hoped to take over ownership of the pipeline
after 30 years, he said.
-
- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been surveying routes
for transferring local gas from northern Afghan areas to Kabul, and to
iron ore mines at the Haji Gak pass further west.
-
- "ADB will announce its conclusion soon," Mr
Razim said.
-
- The pipeline is expected to be built with funds from
donor countries for the reconstruction of Afghanistan as well as ADB loans,
he said.
-
- © MMII
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1984000/1984459.stm
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