India and Pakistan on Thursday committed themselves to buying natural gas from Turkmenistan despite cost of laying pipeline from the Central Asian nation doubling to $ .6 billion and the energy-hungry countries close to striking a deal for a rival line from Iran.
The South Asian neighbours and Afghanistan signed the Framework Agreement with Turkmenistan for laying the line by 2015.
Two-days of deliberation of the Steering Committee of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline, that has the US backing, saw the formal induction of New Delhi and resolved issues regarding gas reserves in Turkmenistan and demand of the South-Asian neighbours.
After the meeting, Pakistan's Petroleum Minister Khwaja Asif said: "We are strongly committed to the project. We believe it is still economically viable for the four countries even after the escalation in cost."
According to a draft feasibility study prepared with the support of the Asian Development Bank, which is financially backing the pipeline, the estimated cost of the project has increased from $ 3.3 billion in 2004 to $ 7.6 billion.
The escalation was due to sharp rise in steel prices, jump in construction costs and cost of compressor stations to be set up for the 1,680-km line from Turkmenistan's Daulatabad gas field to Fazilka on the India-Pakistan border after passing through Herat and Kandahar in Afghanistan and Multan in Pakistan
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