The proposal was submitted by Bangladeshi Mohona Holdings Limited, which plans to form an international private consortium before seeking the government's approval. After this stage, it will seek formal approval from the governments of Myanmar, India and Bangladesh to implement the project.

The proposed pipeline will transmit gas from Myanmar to Tripura, where gas from Tripura will join the pipeline flow and continue on to eastern Bangladesh through the Brahmanbaria border, exiting in western Bangladesh through the Jessore border and ending at West Bengal.

A company jointly owned by the Gas Authority of India and the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation will purchase the Myanmar gas from West Bengal near the border.

This proposal, pursued since 1996 by Mohona Holdings, has been approved in principle by the governments of West Bengal, Tripura and Myanmar.

In the past the Awami League government had discussed the proposal but did not approve it. After the BNP came to power, the proposal was placed before the prime minister again -- but it was withheld.

As India and Myanmar continued to be interested in the project, Mohona reapplied for the government's approval with a renewed letter of interest while the government of Myanmar sent a letter on the issue on May 5 last year. But last September, the prime minister's office once again suspended the proposal.

Mohona Holdings recently reiterated its interest, and following a discussion with state minister for energy, the prime minister verbally directed the energy ministry to send the proposal to the cabinet committee.

The government of Bangladesh will not invest in the pipeline nor assume any risk involved in its construction. But a recent cabinet committee brief prepared by the energy ministry underscored the pipeline's benefits to the country.

These include: revenue earning from granting a right of way to the pipeline; an estimated 100 million US dollars per annum wheeling charge over the gas transmission through Bangladesh; an investment of about 150 million dollars inside Bangladesh for the pipeline construction; and involvement in the project of the Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL), which may earn the company 24 million dollars per year.

The ministry added that, while approving the project on principle, the government may impose conditions on investors under which Petrobangla would transmit gas from the eastern part of the country to Jessore-Khulna region, where presently there is no piped gas.

The government will have its say in deciding the size of the pipeline, while investors will be required to provide information about the source of the gas, its ownership and its potential buyers. The government will also have its say in forming the international private consortium.

The GTCL will be vested with management and conservation of the pipeline.

The pipeline must be installed utilising the existing road infrastructure as much as possible and avoiding acquisition of new lands.

The government should also consider providing security for the pipeline as it will involve inter-country gas trade.