No plans to up power exports to Pakistan: Iran minister

TEHRAN: Iran’s energy minister says Tehran has no plans to increase electricity exports to neighboring Pakistan.

The construction of the power plant in Zahedan, the capital city of the southeastern province of Sistan-and-Baluchestan, near the Pakistani border, merely aims to “stabilize the power network in the southeast of the country (Iran),” Hamid Chitchian was quoted by Mehr News Agency as saying.

An increase in power exports to Pakistan is not on the ministry’s agenda, he noted, but underlined that the “current trend” of exporting electricity to Pakistan will continue.

Chitchian also referred to a recent report by Pakistani media that Islamabad plans to import 1,000 megawatts of electricity from Iran.

Pakistani media announced late December that the Pakistani Ministry of Water and Power had called for a draft memorandum of understanding to be signed with Tehran on importing electricity from Iran.

The draft is a past issue and the Pakistani side has not remained committed to some of its pledges, the Iranian minister stated.

Iran is currently exchanging electricity with Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan Republic, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Turkey.

The Iranian Energy Ministry says electricity exports to neighboring countries have exceeded 1,800 MW.

Iran and Pakistan have also been engaged in a pipeline project under which the Islamic Republic will export gas to its energy-hungry neighbor.

The two sides have been discussing the technical aspects of the under-construction pipeline and talks have been held over an extension of the December 2014 deadline for the construction and financing of the pipeline as well as gas pricing.