Context
In a key development, Pakistani Petroleum Minister Asim Hussain announced Monday that the Pak-Iran gas pipeline project would be completed by Dec 2012—two years earlier than its proposed completion date. The minister was talking to journalists after a National Assembly Standing Committee meeting on petroleum. Responding to a question regarding the project’s financing, Hussain assured the funding would be made available, without saying as to where exactly the money will come from. The project would cost around $1.5bn.
