NEW YORK: The World Bank cancelled a $100 million loan approved for a natural gas efficiency project, said an official here on Thursday.

The loan was cancelled due to lack of interest by the Pakistani gas distribution company,” the official said.

Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) was expected to carry out the project in its distribution areas Sindh and Balochistan.

“The gas project was aimed at enhancing the supply of natural gas by reducing physical and commercial losses of gas in the pipeline system,” a report published by the bank said.

“The failure of the project led to its closure and, as a result, the levels of unaccounted-for gas remained high while continuing to drain the precious natural resource,” it added.

Justifying its rating of “unsatisfactory”, the World Bank report said it should have exercised caution and not proceeded with a project that did not receive sustained interest from the board and management of SSGC, which had insufficient ownership in the project.

Against the original commitment of $200 million, the bank had disbursed only $0.25m.