Piped natural gas to reach Bhubaneswar, Cuttack by 2019
Piped Natural Gas (PNG)
Bhubaneswar : A total of 25,000 households in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar cities will be provided Piped Natural Gas (PNG) connection by the end of 2019, said an official on Wednesday.
“Around 25,000 households in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack would get PNG connection in their kitchens by December 2019 as part of th City Gas Distribution (CGD) project. The number of PNG connections will be gradually ramped up in the next three to five years,” said Ashutosh Karnatak, the Director of Projects, Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL).
The pilot project of PNG supply would be launched in Bhubaneswar by Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on October 20.
The GAIL would commence supply of environment-friendly PNG in 255 houses in Nalco Nagar in the first phase, said Karnatak.
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, Karnatak said.
“The overall capital expenditure for the Bhubaneswar and Cuttack CGD projects will be Rs 1,700 crore, of which Rs 400 crore will be spent in the next three to five years.”
Moreover, 25 CNG stations will be commissioned in the twin cities to supply compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel to vehicles, he added.
In Bhubaneswar, construction activities of CNG stations had already commenced in Chandrasekharpur, Patia, Khandagiri and Tamando, and supply would begin at the earliest, said Karnatak.
The CGD projects in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack are being taken up parallel to the Jagdishpur-Haldia and Bokaro-Dhamra Natural Gas Pipeline (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.
It will also connect major industrial clusters of Khurdha, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Angul, Dhenkanal, Kalinganagar, Jajpur and Paradip.
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 and Bokaro-Dhamra Natural Gas Pipeline (JHBDPL), according to the GAIL Director.
The pipeline is currently under construction and likely to be completed by 2019, he added.
The commencement of supply of natural gas will pass through five states — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal.
—IANS
