City Gas project to be launched in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack

Bhubaneshwar: The Rs 1,750 crore City Gas Distribution (CGD) project will be launched in Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack soon, bringing environment friendly Natural Gas to Odisha.

Natural Gas will be supplied to these cities through the Jagdishpur Haldia & Bokaro Dhamra Natural Gas Pipeline (JHBDPL), popularly known as 'Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga', GAIL Director (Projects) Ashutosh Karnatak and GAIL Gas Limited CEO P K Pal announced here today.

Households and small industries in the two cities can avail Piped Natural Gas (PNG) while vehicles can use Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) once the CGD network becomes operational, they said.

The CGD project would be launched here on March 18 by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who will also inaugurate the city office of GAIL (India) Limited which is implementing JHBDPL as well as the CGD networks. GAIL Gas is a subsidiary of GAIL engaged in CGD activities.

GAIL officials also launched four mobile vans to spread awareness on how natural gas will transform the lives of people as it will be supplied directly to domestic kitchens and used in vehicles and for industrial sector as well. The economic, social and environmental benefits of natural gas will be highlighted through these mobile vans.

The 2,619 km JHBDPL project is being executed at an investment of Rs 12,940 crore. It will pass through five states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal, covering 49 districts. Natural Gas will be supplied to Fertilizer Sector, Power Sector, Refineries, Steel, CGD and other sectors through this pipeline, they said.

With assured Gas supply, Fertilizer Plants at Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), Barauni (Bihar) and Sindri (Jharkhand) have been approved for revival. This pipeline will also meet the gas requirements of Matix Fertilizer Plant at Durgapur (West Bengal).

Besides Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, GAIL has been entrusted with developing CGD network enroute the pipeline in Varanasi, Patna, Jamshedpur, Kolkata and Ranchi.

In Odisha, the pipeline will be constructed at an estimated investment of Rs 4,000 crore and have a length of about 762 km covering 13 districts, GAIL officials said.

Bhubaneshwar CGD project will benefit around 25 lakh people in Khordha district and around 2.5 lakh households will be supplied with piped domestic natural gas. Moreover, 24 CNG stations will be commissioned in the first three to five years to supply CNG fuel to around 1 lakh vehicles.

Similarly, in Cuttack around 26 lakh people will be benefited by this project while 2.5 lakh households will get PNG connections, they said.