it's like they say: "my wife -- please take her!"
india should invest nothing in a pipeline from iran unless it runs along the seabed, avoiding pakistani territory. are we nuts to entrust an oil pipeline to the tender mercies of pakistan? if it works well, then every rupee we give them in transit fees will go towards buying AK-47s. if it doesn't work, that means the pipeline will be blown up periodically and indian customers will be held hostage.
the IPI is one of the more brain-dead ideas that have come up for some time. let the chinese deal with the ISI.
and, oh, incidentally, china is proliferating more nuke stuff to pakistan. i suppose obama will certify that there is no proliferation, year after year, as clinton (and bush?) used to do.
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China keen to replace India in Peace Pipeline deal
Press TV, 29/3/2010
China is showing keen interest in investing $2.5 billion in Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project in order to meet the country's energy demands.
Islamabad has started negotiations with Beijing over the purchase of technical equipment to be used for extending the gas pipeline to China, Mehr News Agency quoted informed sources in Pakistan's oil ministry as saying.
China's interest in the extension of the pipeline came after Islamabad's reluctance to cooperate with New Delhi on the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) project allegedly due to India's delay in developing the Peace Pipeline project.
Based on the incoming reports, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said it was possible to change the name of the project from Iran-Pakistan-India to Iran-Pakistan-China project.
The Pakistani foreign minister said Islamabad always welcomed New Delhi's presence in the project but ruled any further chance for India to delay its presence in IPI plans, the reports suggest.
Islamabad made a significant effort to involve Beijing after India declined to attend Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project.
The initial agreement of the project was signed in Tehran in May 2009 between Iran and Pakistan.
Around 1,100 kilometers of the pipeline would be built in Iran and Pakistan will receive 750 million cubic feet of natural gas per day from Iran through the pipeline, as part of a 25-year deal.
Pakistan in 'civil nuclear deal' with China
Daily Times, 30/3/2010
* Two plants with a capacity of 640 megawatts to be set up in Chashma
* China to provide 82% of total $1.912bn financing
By Sajid Chaudhry
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has entered a civil nuclear deal with China for the establishment of two nuclear power projects of 640 megawatts in Chashma, Daily Times has learnt.
The breakthrough deal – under which Pakistan would be provided a loan, technology and installation facilities – was finalised ahead of the latest round of the Pak-US strategic dialogue, as the federal cabinet granted financial approval at a meeting on March 24.
Sources privy to the deal said the federal cabinet had approved an inter-government framework agreement on the financing of 'Chashma Nuclear Power Project 3' and 'Chashma Nuclear Power Project 4' with China.
The sources said under the agreement, China would provide 82 percent of the total $1.912 billion financing to Pakistan as a 20-year soft loan, with an eight-year grace period.
In a bid to guarantee financing for the two plants, the inter-government framework agreement requires both countries to enter three loan agreements. Under the first loan agreement, Pakistan would be provided $104 million with an annual interest rate of 1 percent, management fee of 0.2 percent and a commitment fee of 0.2 percent. Under the second preferential buyer credit agreement, Pakistan would get $1 billion with an annual interest rate of 2 percent, a management fee of 0.2 percent and a commitment fee of 0.2 percent – while the third buyers credit agreement would provide Pakistan $474 million with an annual interest rate of 6 percent, a management fee of 0.75 percent, a commitment fee of 0.5 percent and an insurance rate of 7 percent.
However, according to the inter-government framework agreement, the annual composite interest rate would not exceed three percent in any case.
The sources said that frequent visits by President Asif Ali Zardar and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani helped secure the deal. They said the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) had already approved the two projects.
The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission would be the executing agency for the establishment of the two plants – which would be completed in eight years.
The sources said each 320-megawatt unit would contain a nuclear steam supply system, a turbine-generator set and the associated auxiliary equipment and installations.
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