President Musharraf had misled the press by saying Pakistan would be given US$500 million to US$600 million as transit fee for allowing the laying of a gas pipeline on its territory from Iran to India, according to ministry of petroleum spokesman Iftikhar Rashid.

“Pakistan would get US$70 million to US$80 million as transit fee,” Rashid said.

“This has been estimated based on transit fees of the other oil or gas pipelines laid in other parts of the world. US$500 million to US$600 million as transit fee is an exaggerated and fabricated figure and India would never accept this huge amount under the head of transit fee for Pakistan.”

The consortium, which is yet to be set up to run the mega project, would decide the exact transit fee for Pakistan and would also consider the views of Iran and India since they would be the ultimate users of the gas from the pipeline, he said.

“The consortium [will] decide on the transit fee keeping in view the length and diameter of the pipeline and the volume of gas which the pipeline would take from Iran to India [and], if Pakistan uses the gas from the pipeline for its own consumption, then the transit royalty [will] further reduce,” he said.