Iran gives another major blow to India, ONGC exits from critical project
After reports of Chabhar-Zahidan railway project being outside India, Iran can now move forward on another major project alone. This project is for the development of the gas field Farzad-B block. Foreign Ministry spokesman Anurag Shrivastava said during a press briefing on Thursday that Iran has informed India that it is currently going to develop the gas field alone. Iran has said that India can join this project later.
A foreign ministry spokesman said, “There are also reports about the Farzad-B gas field agreement. It also included India’s ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) company in the exploration stage. However, policy changes from Iran Due to this, bilateral cooperation has been affected. In January 2020, we were told that in future Iran will develop this gasfield automatically and it wants India’s presence at a later stage. Discussion on this matter is going on. “
India had been trying to get gas field contracts since 2009. The Farzad-B block has gas reserves of 21.6 trillion cubic feet. According to reports, the Farzad-B block development, which was previously a joint project of Iran and ONGC Videsh, can now be handed over to a local company. By ending the nuclear deal with Iran, the US had imposed all kinds of restrictions on it, which also affected India’s projects in Iran.
This decision has come at a time when Iran and China are finalizing a strategic and economic agreement of $ 400 billion for 25 years. Iran’s parliament’s approval on Iran-China strategic partnership is awaited.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson speculated reports of Chabahar port and Chabahar Jahedan railway project being outside India. However, he put the ball in Iran’s court, saying that Iran’s response to the projects is awaited.
Iran has exited India from it citing delays in funding of the Chabahar-Jahedan railway project. The Foreign Ministry said that India is still awaiting official approval from Iran regarding these projects. A foreign ministry spokesman said, these issues were discussed in detail during the India-Iran Joint Commission meeting in December 2019. An official party was to be nominated by Iran to take a final decision on technical and economic issues. The wait is still on.
Iran’s Vice President Eshah Jahangiri said that the government has approved spending 300 million dollars from the National Development Fund for the construction of railway links.
What is the status of the agreement between India and Iran? In response to this question, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, as far as the Chabahar railway project is concerned, IRCON was appointed by the Government of India to evaluate the feasibility of the project. IRCON was working closely with the CDTIC company of the Ministry of Railways of Iran. IRCON had inspected the site and prepared several reports regarding it. Subsequently, other aspects of the project were also discussed in detail. In these meetings, discussions were also held on the economic difficulties and challenges of Iran.
The Chabahar project is strategically important for India. Under this project, several projects were agreed between India-Iran and Afghanistan. The 628 railway line will connect Jahedan to Chabahar via Sistan and Balochistan. Chabahar is Iran’s only sea port in the Gulf of Oman.
The Ministry of External Affairs said, India has been committed to the Chabahar project since 2003 and during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Iran in 2016, this port was finally operational. Since then there has been considerable progress on the port project, despite US sanctions on Iran. Since 2018, an Indian company has been operating the Chabahar port and the movement of ships at the port has increased rapidly. Even in times of Corona virus epidemic, Chabahar port is busy.
Since December 2018, 82 seaports have been looked after at the port, out of which 52 ships have arrived in the last 12 months. The port handled 1.2 million tonnes of cargo and 8200 containers. Continuous steps are being taken to increase the utility of Chabahar port for Afghanistan and West Asia. Sources in the Iranian government told India Today that, as far as the Chabahar port is concerned, Iran has been committed to its partnership with India to bring peace, stability and economic progress to the region. We are happy that even during the time of Corona epidemic, movement of goods from Chabahar port remains. Chabahar port is flourishing day by day under the supervision of India.
