Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss revealed the figure at a joint press conference in Canberra today with Malaysia’s acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and the latter’s Chinese counterpart, Yang Chuantang.

“The estimated cost of A$60 million is what the Australians estimate. We will discuss with Malaysia and China and all other parties if they are interested,” Truss said in the news conference that was broadcast live on US network, CNN.

The new assets for the next phase of search include a synthetic aperture sonar to map the ocean floor, Truss said.

He added that the US navy had agreed to loan its Bluefin-21 submersible, which has been carrying out the undersea search in the Indian Ocean, for one more month.

With the search entering a new phase, Australia will be shifting the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) from Perth to its national capital in Canberra, Truss said, for easier talks with the Malaysian and Chinese representatives.

The tripartite talks to detail the management of the additional assets for the next search phase will begin from Wednesday, Truss said, pointing out that a large number came from private companies.

The search for the missing jetliner is estimated to be the costliest in the history of aviation.

The Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, carrying 239 on board, took off from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 12.41am on March 8 and disappeared from civilian radar barely an hour later.

Military radar later showed the plane had doubled back, and satellite data tracked the plane to the Indian Ocean, before disappearing altogether.