Odisha gets piped natural gas supply

Bhubaneswar, Oct 20 (IANS) Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday launched the Piped Natural Gas (PNG) supply system in Odisha by rolling out the first phase of the project here -- almost six months before the deadline.

With this, Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) started supplying environment-friendly PNG to 255 houses in Nalco Nagar located at Chandrasekharpur area.

It also plans to provide PNG connections in the near future to adjacent Jeevan Bima Colony and Maitri Vihar Colony, covering a total of 1,000 houses.

Assessment was also being carried out for PNG supply to leading hotels, hospitals and industrial units of the city.

Expressing happiness at the fast pace of work, Pradhan said GAIL took up the project on a war-footing and praised it for the early commencement of this first phase of supply of PNG in Bhubaneswar -- expected to be completed by March 2018.

Initially, natural gas will reach Bhubaneswar in special containers called "cascades" which will be transported by road from Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh. Later, natural gas will be supplied through the Jagdishpur-Haldia & Bokaro-Dhamra Natural Gas Pipeline (JHBDPL).

Gail has planned to provide PNG in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack by end of 2019. The overall capital expenditure for the two cities will be Rs 1,700 crore, of which Rs 400 crore will be spent in the next three to five years, said Ashutosh Karnatak, GAIL Director (Projects).

City gas distribution projects in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack are being taken up in parallel with the JHBDPL, popularly known as 'Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga'.

In Odisha, the natural 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 -- Bhadrak, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Angul, Sundergarh, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Debagarh, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Khordha, Puri and Kendrapara.