<b><span style='color:blue'>India-Myanmar pipeline deal may leave BD out</span></b>
<b>DHAKA : Bangladesh is to be left out of the proposed one billion dollar India-Myanmar gas pipeline project, according to Indian officials, an internet (mizzimanews.com) report said.</b>
Top officials in the Indian petroleum ministry told Mizzima a high level meeting was scheduled later this month to finalise a route for the gas pipeline from Myanmar directly to Indiaâs eastern states. "The Bangladesh route is as good as shelved," a top petroleum ministry official said. "We will now consider the route through northeast India and try to work out work schedules."
Gas Authority of India Limited chairman Proshanto Banerji said the line would instead pass through Indiaâs north-east border with Myanmar. Indiaâs preferred route is reportedly from Sittwe to Buthidaung in Chin State across the border to Chhimtuipui, Mizoram and then to Assam. Gas would then be transferred to a proposed national grid in northern Bengal. According to estimates the project will cost India $290 million, which could rise to $300 million if the project is delayed.
Mahmudur Rahman, adviser to Bangladeshâs energy minister, said officials in Dhaka had no objections to the change in plans. The country had asked for major trade concessions in return for allowing gas to be piped across its territory. "In commercial negotiations, every party will try to get maximum benefit and there is no harm in it," Rahman said. Bangladesh could have earned as much as $125 million a year in transit fees and other service charges from the pipeline.
Myanmar, Indian and Bangladeshi governments agreed in principle to co-operate on the gas pipeline and exploration project in January this year but Bangladesh failed to agree to any proposed terms.
<b>Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar visited Bangladesh in September to try to finalise the deal and while he was not available for comment, it seems his office too has given up on Bangladeshi involvement.
The new pipeline will have to be 40 per cent longer than the 850km Bangladesh route and <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>will cost considerably more. "But it will generate a lot of economic activity in the northeast and thatâs good for the region," said Assamâs leading economist Jayant Madhab Goswami.
But the northeastern route would go through insurgency-affected areas, though the recent peace talks with the United Liberation Front of Assam have generated hopes of peace in the area along the route.</span></b>
Comments : Even if the <b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>cost is USD 300 Million more</span></b> then this cost will be recouped within Three Years of the Operation of the Pipe Line
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>DHAKA : Bangladesh is to be left out of the proposed one billion dollar India-Myanmar gas pipeline project, according to Indian officials, an internet (mizzimanews.com) report said.</b>
Top officials in the Indian petroleum ministry told Mizzima a high level meeting was scheduled later this month to finalise a route for the gas pipeline from Myanmar directly to Indiaâs eastern states. "The Bangladesh route is as good as shelved," a top petroleum ministry official said. "We will now consider the route through northeast India and try to work out work schedules."
Gas Authority of India Limited chairman Proshanto Banerji said the line would instead pass through Indiaâs north-east border with Myanmar. Indiaâs preferred route is reportedly from Sittwe to Buthidaung in Chin State across the border to Chhimtuipui, Mizoram and then to Assam. Gas would then be transferred to a proposed national grid in northern Bengal. According to estimates the project will cost India $290 million, which could rise to $300 million if the project is delayed.
Mahmudur Rahman, adviser to Bangladeshâs energy minister, said officials in Dhaka had no objections to the change in plans. The country had asked for major trade concessions in return for allowing gas to be piped across its territory. "In commercial negotiations, every party will try to get maximum benefit and there is no harm in it," Rahman said. Bangladesh could have earned as much as $125 million a year in transit fees and other service charges from the pipeline.
Myanmar, Indian and Bangladeshi governments agreed in principle to co-operate on the gas pipeline and exploration project in January this year but Bangladesh failed to agree to any proposed terms.
<b>Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar visited Bangladesh in September to try to finalise the deal and while he was not available for comment, it seems his office too has given up on Bangladeshi involvement.
The new pipeline will have to be 40 per cent longer than the 850km Bangladesh route and <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>will cost considerably more. "But it will generate a lot of economic activity in the northeast and thatâs good for the region," said Assamâs leading economist Jayant Madhab Goswami.
But the northeastern route would go through insurgency-affected areas, though the recent peace talks with the United Liberation Front of Assam have generated hopes of peace in the area along the route.</span></b>
Comments : Even if the <b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>cost is USD 300 Million more</span></b> then this cost will be recouped within Three Years of the Operation of the Pipe Line
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->