By IANS
New Delhi : India should consider building a gas pipeline from Central Asia via China as an alternative to the contentious pipeline project involving Iran and Pakistan, according to M. K. Rasgotra, chairman of the National Security Advisory Board.
“India should moot building a gas pipeline to bring Central Asian gas to India, running via China instead of going for the Iranian gas pipeline,” Rasgotra, a former foreign secretary, told a seminar on oil and gas organized by the Observer Research Foundation here Thursday.
Major superpowers – the US, Russia and China – were pursuing separate strategies to establish domination over the huge gas reserves of Central Asia and India should join hands with one of them, preferably China, he added.
Addressing the seminar, Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board chairman L. Mansingh expressed unhappiness over the continuing delay in issuance of a notification by the government to bring natural gas under the purview of the board.
Power Secretary Anil Razdan said India needed an independent regulatory body to ensure bulk consumers like power generation and fertiliser production sectors get natural gas at competitive prices.
“Under the existing scenario in the country, where only a few players dominate domestic gas production and supply, free play of market forces alone cannot ensure competitive prices,” he told the seminar.
The power secretary pointed out that regulation of the US gas production and supply market had led to price competition that ultimately benefited consumers.
“Competitive electricity tariffs discovered in the bidding held for allocation of ultra mega power projects like Sasan and Mundra have set a benchmark for the Indian electricity market.
“Domestic gas suppliers should keep this in mind if they want power generators to move from coal to gas,” Razdan stressed.