Pakistan, World Bank sings agreement

An Agreement was signed between the Government and the World Bank for $ 200 million funding for Natural Gas Efficiency Project.
The Financing/Loan Agreements were signed by Dr. Waqar Masood Khan, Secretary Economic Affairs Division on behalf of Government of Pakistan and Mr. Rachid Benmessaoud, Country Director, World Bank. The project Agreement was also signed on this occasion between Mr. Yusuf J. Ansari, Company Secretary, Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC) and the Country Director World Bank. The Project will be implemented by SSGC.
The objective of the Project is to enhance the supply of natural gas in Pakistan by reducing the physical and commercial losses of gas in the pipeline system and improve the operational capacity of SSGC.
Project will have the following components:
UFG reduction: This component will finance Goods and Works that will help reduce un-accounted for gas (UFG) in the gas distribution system, including system segmentation and pressure management, pipe replacement and repair, cathodic protection, and advanced metering systems.
Appliance Efficiency Pilot Project: This component will finance modern, energy-efficient gas appliances and/or retrofit appliance components for residential consumers in a pilot project.
Technical Assistance: This component will finance assistance to the Sui Southern Gas Company Limited for improving its organizational capacity and customer orientation and for managing the Project.
The Project will be completed by June 2017. The Project will help to increase the supply of gas to the consumers, maintain adequate gas pressure, ensure better service delivery to the consumers and improve the efficiency of SSGC. In addition to this, the Project will also help curtail emission of greenhouse gases through the avoidance of direct methane gas leakages into the atmosphere.