Pakistan, Iran ready to hold negotiations

Pakistan and Iran are ready to hold negotiations on renewal of agreement for 100MW electricity import to Balochistan as Tehran has offered the supply of more electricity.

Iran is ready to provide as much as electricity Pakistan needs but we have some constraints which stop us from making the deal, official source told The Nation here Monday.

The issue of power import from Iran was discussed here in a meeting between Federal Minister for Power, Omar Ayub Khan, and the Iranian Ambassador Mr. Mehdi Honardoost, who called on him in his office.

Pakistan was earlier importing 73 MW electricity from Iran, to meet the demand of the border areas of Balochistan, however during past two years the import of electricity has been increased to 100MW. First agreement between Pakistan and Iran for import of 34MW electricity was reached in 2002, which was increased to 73MW and now again it has been increased to more than 100MW.

However, the official said that Iran has the capability to provide up to 3000 MW electricity to Pakistan. There is problem on Pakistan side because the import of such big quantity of electricity required robust transmission system, which requires a lot of investment. The payment to outside suppliers for such big quantity of power is another issue. The power tariff for the Iranian electricity is higher than the local generation cost, said the official.

Besides Pakistan is also working to set up its own power plant at Gwadar which will reduce the country reliance on foreign country for power supply, the official added.

Meanwhile, a press statement issued by spokesman of the ministry said that that Federal Minister for Power, Omar Ayub Khan, while reiterating Pakistan’s commitment for further promoting the existing brotherly relations between Pakistan and Iran, has said that Pakistan is looking forward to boost its existing cooperation in the field of power between the two countries.

The minister assured that Power Division will soon hold comprehensive discussion with Iranian side on renewal of agreement for 100 MW electricity import to Pakistan from Iran. The spirit of brotherly cooperation between Iran and Pakistan was reiterated during the meeting with the desire of working together on possibilities of exploring further avenues in the field of power generation and transmission, said the spokesman.