The governments of India and Pakistan have given their in-principle approval on having a uniform transit fee for wheeling gas from Turkmenistan.

The gas is to flow through the proposed $7.6-billion pipeline. The agreement for the plan is different from other transit proposals involving the two south Asian neighbors. The disagreements on transit fee as well as the prices of the fuel have stalled progress on other similar projects.

The new agreement on transit fee for the Turkmenistan pipeline project came during a meeting between India’s oil minister S Jaipal Reddy and his Pakistani counterpart Asim Hussain. Under the agreement, the Pakistani authorities will charge a similar fee to that charged by Afghanistan that will be in line with international practices.

"There can't be one transit fee for India and Afghanistan and another for Pakistan and Afghanistan... It should be the same in-principle," Reddy.

Hussain said that the matter of uniform projects is to be discussed between the three countries. The agreement is subject to approval in both the countries. India will pay transit fee to Pakistan and Afghanistan for getting its share of 38 mcmd of gas. Meanwhile, Islamabad will only have to pay the transit fee to Afghanistan.