Kerala State City Gas Distribution projects in Kollam and Thrissur

25 September 2013
Kochi

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has identified Kollam and Thrissur as the next potential locations in the state to implement the city gas distribution (CGD) project. The board had identified Ernakulam as the first place to implement the CGD project in the state but the project remains to be a non-starter. The main reason was that the PNGRB had stopped the bidding process for the project following complaints from private companies about the monopoly of GAIL India Ltd in the CGD project.This coupled with non-completion of laying of gas pipelines in the state remains the roadblock for the project.

The CGD project has been envisaged to distribute natural gas to households to ensure year-long cooking gas supply without any disruption through pipelines.

The recently-published ‘Vision-2030’ on natural gas infrastructure in India by the PNGRB states that Ernakulam will get the CGD network by 2017. City gas network in Kollam and Thrissur, covering 6.64 lakh people, will be in place in six years, the document stated. “Kerala is the first state in South India to have an LNG terminal. Now only the technical delay prevails and the state would be able to get CGD network soon. But mounting protest against the pipeline-laying process is a big threat against the project,” a GAIL official said. Kollam and Thrissur are among 52 cities identified by the board in the country to have CGD in the next eight years. City gas distribution sector in the country has seen rapid growth in the recent years and consumes about 13.6 MMSCMD of natural gas.

Source– http://newindianexpress.com

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