BHUBANESWAR: IN a Diwali gift to the State, GAIL (India) Limited, a Central public sector enterprise, will commence supply of environment-friendly piped natural gas (PNG) in the State Capital on October 20.Announcing the supply of natural gas through pipe, a first of its kind in the State, GAIL Director (Projects) Ashutosh Karnatak said, 255 houses in Nalco Nagar in the city will get PNG in the first phase.
Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan will launch the PNG supply under ‘Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga’ project here on October 20, he told a media conference here. “It has been targeted to provide one crore PNG connections in the State by 2020. Major portion of the city will be covered under the programme by 2019-end,” Karnatak said.
Piloting the city gas distribution (CGD) project in the city in March this year, the Union Minister had set a target to commence supply in Nalco Nagar by March 2018. However, GAIL completed the project six months ahead of the deadline, he said.The Maharatna company, the largest natural gas processing and distribution company in the country, has planned to provide PNG connections to Jeevan Bima colony and Maitri Vihar covering a total of 1,000 houses in the next couple of months. “Assessment is also being carried out for PNG supply to leading hotels, hospitals and industrial units of the city,” the GAIL executive said.
Responding to a query, Karnatak said the pilot project taken up in Cuttack city will be completed by March 2018. Describing PNG as a ‘happy fuel’, the GAIL executive said the eco-friendly gas will reduce the cost of consumers by 30 to 40 per cent. The number of PNG connections in the twin city will be gradually ramped up in the next three to five years. Moreover, 25 CNG stations will be commissioned in the two cities to supply compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel to vehicles.
Construction activities of CNG stations have already been taken up at Chandrasekharpur, Patia, Khandagiri and Tamando in the city and supply will be commenced at the earliest, he said. The overall capital expenditure for Bhubaneswar and Cuttack CGD projects will be RS1,700 crore of which RS 400 crore will be spent in the next three to five years.
The gas pipeline will be constructed at an estimated investment of RS 4,000 crore and have a length of about 769 km covering 13 districts. Besides, it will connect major industrial clusters of Khurda, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Angul, Dhenkanal, Kalinga Nagar, Jajpur and Paradip.