GAIL to invest Rs 4,276 cr to improve natural gas network in Odisha.

State run gas company GAIL (India) Ltd. has proposed to invest Rs. 4,276 crore in Odisha to improve supply of natural gas in the state's major industrial hubs, besides enhancing the gas distribution network in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

GAIL has committed to an investment of Rs. 1,750 crore to build the city gas distribution (CGD) network in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. Out of the total investment amount, Rs. 1,000 crore would be spent on Bhubaneswar. The remaining amount of Rs. 750 crore would be set aside for Cuttack. Gas distribution to households in the Twin City region is expected to be a reality by December 2019 or early 2020.

The company will have its natural gas pipe line in the districts of Bhadrak, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Angul, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri and Khordha.

It needs a total of around 51 acres of land in various locations for sectional valve, pigging station, dispatch/receiving terminals, city gas stations and pipeline. Project is ecpected to emply around 1,141 people in the state.

The proposal was on Wednesday considered by the state-level single window clearance authority and subsequently referred to a high-level clearance authority led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

On an earlier occasion, GAIL's executive director A K Singh had said: “The Jagdishpur-Haldia-Bokaro-Dhamra natural gas pipeline being built by GAIL would be the feeder line for gas supplies in Odisha. This pipeline is being constructed at a cost of Rs 13,000 crore out of which Rs 4,000 crore is spent in Odisha. In two to three years, the entire pipeline would be constructed and commissioned.”

The 2,619-kilometre natural gas pipeline would have a network of 762 kilometres that would be covering 13 districts of the state. CGD project further proposes to cover a population of 0.5 million in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack in the next three to five years.

Apart from households, piped natural gas (PNG) would be supplied to industries and compressed natural gas (CNG) to vehicles under the 'Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga Yojana'. Prices of PNG for households is estimated to be 10-15 per cent cheaper than subsidised liquefied natural gas (LNG).

In the next five years, the state plans to run 150,000 vehicles on CNG. Under the project, 24 CNG stations would be set up in Bhubaneswar and another 25 in Cuttack. GAIL expects gas sales of 0.5 million metric standard cubic metre per day (mmscmd) from Bhubaneshwar, while it expects 0.25 mmscmd sales in Cuttack.

BS