India: Despite 'hiccups,' IPI moves ahead

NEW DELHI, April 17 (UPI) -- The proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline is moving forward despite some initial "hiccups," an Indian official has said.

"There have been hiccups in the initial stages about the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline. But the project is moving ahead," said Anand Sharma, minister of state for external affairs.

The comments, made at a seminar in New Delhi Monday, were reported by the Indo Asian News Service.

The remarks follow a week of speculation; it was reported both that talks were stalled over a dispute between India and Pakistan regarding transit fees, and that the deal would proceed because Pakistan offered to sell India gas at their common border.

The $7.4 billion, 1,700-mile pipeline would run from Iran to India via Pakistan and supply some 90 million cubic meters of Iranian gas to India and 60 million cubic meters to Pakistan every day.

In his comments Monday, Sharma also said India was still looking at other pipeline options, including one that would run from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan and Pakistan and another that would run from Myanmar via Bangladesh.

"We can't say with certainty which project will be executed first. But they are all under consideration," he said, according to IANS.

The future of the IPI pipeline is uncertain because of strong U.S. opposition to the deal and the fact that funding may be difficult because of the countries any pipeline would traverse. Washington has said it backs a pipeline that supplies Central Asian gas to South Asia.