New course

New Delhi, June 26: Gail (India) Ltd is planning to route the proposed transnational gas pipeline from Myanmar entirely through the Indian territory and not via Bangladesh.

A senior Gail official told The Telegraph that although laying the pipeline through Bangladesh will be cheaper, bringing it through the Indian territory will benefit the Northeast. Also, there will be less security risk of bringing the gas through a foreign country, which will charge a transit fee.

If the pipeline is laid through Bangladesh to Bengal, it will be 900 km long and cost around Rs 4,500 crore. If it is laid through the Northeast bypassing Bangladesh, the pipeline will have to cover an additional 500 km. The cost would also go up by about Rs 2,500 crore.

Part of this additional cost will be offset by the transit fee that Bangladesh will charge for allowing the pipeline to pass through its territory.

If the pipeline enters India directly from Myanmar through the northeastern states, it would be a boon as the gas produced in these states cannot be evacuated to the more lucrative markets at present.

The region as well as oil exploration companies would gain from higher prices, if the gas can be evacuated. ?A pipeline is like a road, it benefits the entire territory that it passes through,? a senior Gail official said.

Since the gas from Myanmar is expected to flow over a period of 15 to 20 years or even more, the security cover of laying the pipeline entirely through the Indian territory could well be worth the additional cost.

?While petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar had made good headway with the proposed Myanmar-India-Bangladesh pipeline, Dhaka has queered the pitch by bringing in bilateral issues into trilateral talks,? a senior official pointed out.

Bangladesh seems to have thought that India does not have any other economically viable option. Hence, it had started imposing pre-conditions on issues related to India-Bangladesh and access to Nepal through the Indian territory.