TOI
Margao/New Delhi, Feb 12: The country's hottest tourist destination, Goa, will go green as gas utility GAIL has suggested extending its proposed Dabhol-Bangalore pipeline to the state for supplying the environment-friendly fuel.
The state-owned firm also plans to start supplying piped gas in kitchens of Karnataka and help launch CNG (compressed natural gas) services for automotive use in the state, according to chairman U D Choubey.
Choubey made the proposal to clean up Goa's air during his February 5 meeting with chief minister Digambar Kamat in Panaji and suggested a similar service to Karnataka governor Rameshwar Thakur in Bangalore on Saturday. The GAIL board has already given an in-principle approval for laying the 730-km Dabhol-Bangalore gas pipeline at an estimated investment of Rs 2,500 crore.
The proposal is to extend it to Goa by laying a spur line of about 120 km. Depending on the source and customers, the 30-inch Dabhol-Bangalore pipeline shall be designed to carry 16 million cubic metres per day of gas. "We have proposed a spur line to Goa to meet the industrial demand in the state as also to set up gas distribution networks in major cities for retailing CNG to automobiles and supplying piped gas to households and commercial establishments for cooking purpose," Choubey said.
The route of the proposed Dabhol-Bangalore pipeline is from LNG (liquefied natural gas) import terminal of the Dabhol power project, part-owned by GAIL, in Maharashtra up to Bangalore. The pipeline will pass through Ratnagiri and Kolhapur districts of Maharashtra; and Belgaum, Dharwad, Haveri, Davangere, Chitradurga, Tumkur and Bangalore districts of Karnataka. With this pipeline, natural gas from Dabhol's LNG terminal can be supplied to industrial clusters in the state of Maharashtra and Karnataka and with the extension, even to Goa.
The Dabhol-Bangalore pipeline is among the five new pipelines for which GAIL has already received authorisation in the first quarter of 2007. The other pipelines for which approval has been granted are: Dadri-Bawana-Nangal pipeline, Chainsa-Gurgaon-Jhajjhar-Hissar pipeline, Jagdishpur-Haldia pipeline, and Kochi-Kanjirkkod-Bangalore/Mangalore pipeline. Besides, GAIL will be laying three pipelines to augment the capacities of Dahej-Vijaipur pipeline, Vijaipur-Dadri pipeline, Vijaipur-Auraiya-Jagdishpur pipeline.
The carrying capacity of these three pipelines shall be 74 million cubic metres per day of gas. The total length of the new pipelines will be around 5,500 km and the estimated investment on these would be Rs 20,000 crore. When all these pipelines are commissioned by 2011-12, the total length of GAIL's pipelines would be over 12,000 km and the capacity is expected to increase from 148 mmscmd at present to around 300 million cubic metres per day.
These eight new pipelines to be laid by GAIL will form part of an integrated national gas grid in the country. These pipelines will also enable GAIL to maintain its dominant position in the gas transmission and distribution business.
The integrated gas pipeline network will also enable development of city gas distribution projects in the country by catering to a large number of cities and towns falling in the catchment area of the existing and future pipeline networks and GAIL shall have a distinct advantage and edge over other players.