The vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring environment-friendly natural gas to eastern India is set to become a reality soon in Odisha as Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan would launch implementation of the City Gas Distribution (CGD) project of the GAIl India limited (GAIl) in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack at a function here on March 18.
Natural gas would be supplied to the twin cities through the Jagdishpur- Haldia and Bokaro-Dhamra (JHBDPl) pipeline, popularly known as “Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga”.
The Minister would inaugurate the city office of GAIl (earlier known as Gas Authority of India limited), which is implementing the JHBDPl as well as the CGD networks, said GAIl Director (Projects) Ashutosh Karnatak and GAIl Gas limited CEO PK Pal to reporters here on Wednesday.
In Odisha, the pipeline would be constructed at an investment of Rs 4,000 crore and have a length of about 762 km covering 13 districts. The city CGD project would entail a capital expenditure of around Rs 1,000 crore, and 2.5 lakh households would be supplied piped domestic natural gas. Moreover, 24 CNG stations would be commissioned in the first three to five years to supply CNG to around 1 lakh vehicles, said Karnatak.
Similarly, in the Cuttack CGD project, the capital expenditure would be Rs 750 crore. Around 26 lakh people would be benefited by the project and 2.5 households would get PNG connections. In addition, CNG would be available to 50,000 vehicles through 20 CNG stations which would be set up in the next three to five years.
Natural gas would be available to industries and commercial establishments, creating a gas-based industrial hub, thus boosting the economy of the State in an environment-friendly manner, said Pal.
In the initial stage, a pilot project would be started here covering 1,000 households. The pilot project is expected to be completed by December 20, 2017.