Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan has launched the implementation of City Gas Distribution (CGD) project in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.

The event marked an important step towards 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 GAIL pipeline, popularly known as ‘Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga’, will pass through five states, i.e. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal and the longest stretch – 762 kms – will be built in Odisha.

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 crore, which includes 40% capital grant (i.e. Rs 5,176 crore) 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 and other sectors through this pipeline.

GAIL has been entrusted with developing CGD network in seven cities enroute the pipeline, i.e., Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Varanasi, Patna, Jamshedpur, Kolkata and Ranchi.