Bangladesh has said that it will consider allowing a gas pipeline from Myanmar to India via its territory provided India allows Dhaka a free trade corridor to Nepal and accompanying trade benefits, newspaper reports said.

India has provided Phulbari-Banglabandh corridor to Nepal to trade with Bangladesh and for its overseas exports but Nepali businessmen say trade through the corridor is minimum due to administrative and infrastructural problems.

Bangaldeshi authorities have recently said they have upgraded their part of the corridor and that the route could be fully functional if India allowed unrestricted trade facilities to its neighbours.

According to Indian Express, a leading Indian daily, Dhaka’s fresh conditions on allowing the Myanmar-India pipeline through its territory was communicated a month before Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar visits Dhaka and Yangon to get Bangladesh consent to the pipeline.

Earlier, Aiyar had planned to visit Dhaka for the SAARC summit on January 8-10 and take along his Bangldeshi counterpart to Myanmar for ‘‘conversations without commitment’’.

Dhaka has agreed in principle with the pipeline proposal but it wants the pipeline to be laid along its existing roads and highways, and the project jointly managed by India and Bangladesh.

It also wants India to agree to allow Bangladesh to use the pipeline to export its gas to India or import it from Myanmar.

India would build the $1-billion 290-km gas trunkline while Bangladesh’s state-owned Gas Transmission Co would have responsibility for managing the stretch in its country.

Bangladesh expects to earn about $125 mn annually as transit fee for the pipeline that would run through Arakan (Rakhine) state in Myanmar, Indian states of Mizoram and Tripura, before crossing Bangladesh to Kolkatta.

ONGC Videsh Ltd and GAIL (India) want to build the link to carry gas from the Shwe field in Myanmar, the news report said on Tuesday. nepalnews.com by Dec 15 04