ISLAMABAD 

Pakistan on Friday approved work on the 80-kilometer (49-mile) first phase of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project within its borders to avoid a potential $20 billion penalty. 

The Cabinet Committee on Energy approved the project, allowing work to begin from the Iranian border to the strategic port area of Gwadar in southwestern Balochistan province, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

The private company Inter State Gas Systems will carry out the project, which is expected to cost approximately $158 million and will be funded by the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC).

The Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project began in 2013, and several deadlines have already been missed due to long-standing US sanctions against Tehran.

In September last year, a senior Pakistani Petroleum Ministry official told a Senate committee that Islamabad was trying to negotiate with Tehran to avoid a whopping $20 billion in liabilities as the long-stalled project's deadline approaches in 2024.

Last year, Islamabad also approached Washington, requesting a solution to the lingering imbroglio, but received no response.

According to local media, Pakistani authorities have decided to approach the US again for a waiver of its sanctions on the project.

Tehran claims to have completed its side of the pipeline.

In March 2013, Pakistan's then-President Asif Ali Zardari and Iran's then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held a groundbreaking ceremony near Iran's port city of Chahbahar, with an estimated cost of $7.5 billion at that time.