MYANMAR has indicated that it wants India and Bangladesh to resolve their differences over a proposed trilateral natural gas pipeline as soon as possible.

The three countries agreed in principle in January to build the pipeline, which will transport gas from the A1 block off Rakhine State to India via Bangladesh.
Progress towards a final agreement on the pipeline had been “very slow,” Myanmar’s ambassador to Bangladesh, U Thane Myint, told a Dhaka newspaper last week.

“Time is running out … we have gone halfway through 2005,” U Thane Myint was quoted as saying by the Financial Express on August 17.

He added that the pipeline had the potential to provide economic benefits to all three countries.

“The ball is in the court of Bangladesh and India,” said U Thane Myint.

The ambassador’s comments came ahead of two-day meeting due to begin in Dhaka on August 27 at which Bangladesh and India will try to settle their differences over the pipeline. The meeting will be attended by the Bangladesh Minister of State for Energy, Mr Mahmudur Rahman, and India’s Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar.

The differences between the two South Asian nations over the multi-million dollar project have delayed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the pipeline. The MoU was drafted in February by technical committee comprising energy officials from the three countries.

Bangladesh has insisted that it would only sign the MoU if conditions it has set for allowing the pipeline to pass through its territory were agreed by India.
The conditions include an annual fee of US$125 million for allowing the pipeline to pass through Bangladesh. Dhaka also wants to be able to import electricity from Nepal and Bhutan through India.

The delay in signing of the MoU has prompted India and Myanmar to announce in July that they were considering alternative routes for the pipeline, including one bypassing Bangladesh.

However, India said at the time it wanted to continue negotiations with Bangladesh over the proposed original route, as a bypass option would be less viable economically.

Myanmar said in July it was responsible only for supplying the gas and not the method of delivery.

The A1 block is being developed by a consortium headed by the South Korean conglomerate, Daewoo International, which has a 60 per cent share in the venture.

India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Gas Authority of India Ltd., have 20 per cent and 10 per cent shares respectively. South Korea’s state-owned KOGAS has the remaining 10 per cent.