"It is too big an [issue] to be discussed and sorted out here (at the Cabinet Committee)," Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman, who heads the committee, told journalists after a meeting that discussed the pipeline project.

"This (proposal) needs discussions at the highest level before a decision can be made. This cannot be dealt at our level," he added, referring to the eight-year-old proposal pushed by Bangladeshi company Mohona Holdings Limited.

The proposed pipeline will transmit gas from Myanmar to Tripura, from where gas 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.

Mohona Holdings plans to form an international private consortium before seeking the government approval. After this stage, it will seek final approval from the governments of Myanmar, India and Bangladesh to implement the project.

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. The governments of West Bengal, Tripura and Myanmar, in principle, have approved the project.

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

"This project involves many aspects of the state. The project should first be discussed at the level of the ministries of foreign affairs, defence and energy. Then they should consult the prime minister to see if such a proposal is acceptable in principle, then we can discuss which company may install such a pipeline," Saifur told the reporters while briefing them on what the cabinet committee members discussed at the meeting.

"But we may discuss this pipeline at the upcoming Saarc summit in January. But I cannot say for sure at the moment if this issue will be discussed there or not," Saifur added.

Meeting sources told The Daily Star that the cabinet committee members observed that the defence and foreign ministries do not know of such a private scheme and it cannot be approved right away.

"This project needs to be discussed at government level of all the three countries concerned before we pay serious attention to it," said a meeting source quoting the discussions.

"Then again, we may not accept Mohona as its (pipeline) builder. We can weigh other options. We can have government and private collaboration at different levels," he added.

"We may discuss the issue separately at the Saarc summit where we may also invite the ministers concerned for talks on it. We may also discuss it after the summit," the source pointed out.

A high official of the energy ministry told The Daily Star on condition of anonymity that the ministry would now seek the prime minister's guidance on the issue. "The finance minister will visit New Delhi Saturday and he may discuss the pipeline project with the Indian government," he added.

The energy minister will sit with his Indian and Myanmar counterparts in Myanmar in January and may discuss the project there.

Mohona's proposal has been rejected many times since 1996 when it pursued the project. In recent times, the state minister for energy discussed the proposal with the prime minister and placed a project brief at the cabinet committee for its approval in principle.