The caretaker government is said to have exempted the Turkmenistan Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Gas Pipeline project from the Open Access Regime, OGRA Gas (Third Party Access) Rules 2018 and the Pakistan Gas Network Code, besides standard waiver of immunity in line with international precedents to be included in the Host Government Agreement (HGA), sources close to Secretary Petroleum told Republic policy.
These special concessions were approved by the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) headed by the caretaker Minister for Power and Petroleum, Muhammad Ali, last week of last month, but its minutes were approved by the caretaker Minister three weeks after the meeting by incorporating desired changes. Sharing the details, sources said, the Petroleum Division briefed the CCoE about the TAPI project.
To strengthen the common understanding made by the TAPI parties and further implement the project, the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) and Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement (GPFA) were signed on December 11, 2010.
The GPFA provided certain protections and facilitation to the project company for the execution, implementation, and operation of the pipeline for the project’s life. Moreover, given that TAPI was a transnational pipeline project, the Government of Pakistan (GoP) had agreed, under the GPFA, to adopt and implement a uniform legal and regulatory framework.
As per the GPFA, Afghanistan and Pakistan must execute Host Government Agreements (HGA) with TAPI Pipeline Company Limited (TPCL), the project company.
Petroleum Division was in the process of negotiating the complete form of HGA with TPCL under the TAPI HGA; the Government of Pakistan and its authorities/ institutes/organizations would allow certain concessions and permission to TPCL, including travel concessions covering visas and permits, investment protection, facilitation to grant authority permissions covering approval/ NOCs, etc., to facilitate implementation of the project, uninterrupted transit of gas, freedom of contract, excess pipeline capacity utilization, licence issuance, transportation tariff approval, provision of land, authorization to remit foreign currency, security protocol/ agreement, tax concessions, change of law protection, etc.
The HGA would authorize the TPCL to implement and operate the Pakistan segment of the TAPI project for the next 30 years. In this regard, the GOP draft of the HGA, after incorporating the comments from all concerned Ministries/ government entities followed by a comprehensive review by M/s Freshfields Bruckhaus Derringer (int. legal counsel of Petroleum Division), was finalized and shared with TPCL in March 2023.
