Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan as launched the implementation of City Gas Distribution (CGD) project in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack in the presence of Member of Parliament (Bhubaneswar) Dr Prasanna Kumar Patasani, Member of Parliament (Cuttack) Bhartruhari Mahtab and other digniaties.
The event marked an important step towards the fulfilment of developing a gas-based economy and linking Eastern India to the country’s Natural Gas Grid through the Jagdishpur – Haldia & Bokaro – Dhamra Natural Gas Pipeline (JHBDPL). The pipeline, popularly known as ‘Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga’, will pass through five states, ie, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal and the longest stretch – 762 kms – will be built in Odisha.
Dharmendra Pradhan also inaugurated the Odisha office of GAIL (India) Limited which is implementing the pipeline as well as the CGD project. The Bhubaneshwar CGD project will be built with a capital expenditure of around Rs.1,000 crore. It will benefit around 25 lakh people in Khordha district and around 2.5 lakh households will be supplied with environment friendly, safe and economic piped natural gas (PNG). Moreover, 24 CNG stations will be commissioned in the first three to five years to supply compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel to around 1 lakh vehicles.
Similarly, in Cuttack CGD project, the capital expenditure will be around Rs 750 crore. Around 26 lakh people will be benefitted by this project while 2.5 lakh households will get PNG connections. In addition, CNG will be available to 50,000 vehicles through 20 CNG stations which will be set up in next three to five years.
Natural Gas will also be available to industries and commercial establishments, creating a gas based industrial hub. Almost 2,000 km of steel and MDPE pipelines will be laid for these two CGD networks. It is also expected that the arrival of the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga will provide direct and indirect employment to thousands of people.
The 2,619 km JHBDPL project is being executed at an investment of Rs 12,940 crores, which includes 40% capital grant (i.e. Rs 5,176 crores) from the Government of India. It will pass through Uttar Pradesh (342 km), Bihar (441 km), Jharkhand (524 km), West Bengal (550 km) and Odisha (762 km). Natural Gas will be supplied to Fertilizer Sector, Power Sector, Refineries, Steel, CGD and other sectors through this pipeline.
With the assured Gas supply, Fertilizer Plants at Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), Barauni (Bihar) and Sindri (Jharkhand) have been approved for revival along the route of this pipeline. Further, this pipeline will also meet the gas requirements of Matix Fertilizer Plant at Durgapur (West Bengal). Continued full production from these four major Fertilizer Plants will ensure timely availability of adequate fertilizers in the eastern states which will go a long way in flourishing of agricultural sector.
GAIL has also been entrusted with developing CGD network in seven cities enroute the pipeline, i.e., Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Varanasi, Patna, Jamshedpur, Kolkata and Ranchi.
In Odisha, the pipeline will be constructed at an estimated investment of Rs 4,000 crores and have a length of about 762 km covering 13 districts, ie, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Angul, Sundergarh, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Debagarh, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Khordha, Puri and Kendrapara.
