Gujarat State Petronet Ltd (GSPL), a subsidiary of the state-promoted GSPC Group, has commissioned the Mandali-Becharaji pipeline to supply natural gas for manufacturing at automobile majors Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) and Honda Motors Scooters India (HMSI) plants in north Gujarat.
Piped natural gas supply to the two plants will ensure cheaper fuel for manufacturing. The Honda project was commissioned in June 2016, while Suzuki is expected to begin production for Maruti in March 2017, trial for which is in progress.
“We completed work on the ₹60 crore, EPC-based project within 100 days recently and piped natural gas (PNG) supply is already on,” Ravneet Singh, Director at the Mumbai-based Ace Pipeline Contracts Pvt Ltd, told
The 12-inch diameter, 51-km-long gas pipeline between Mandali and Becharaji is a branch of the Kalol-Mehsana main trunk line. From Becharaji, the company laid a branch pipeline of nearly 100 metres for Maruti-Suzuki and 2.5 km to reach the Honda plant at Vithalpur, he said.
The carbon steel high pressure pipeline was designed and constructed in accordance with global practices using high strength pipe material, anti-corrosion system, the use of trenchless horizontal directional drilling technology for pipeline installation across roads and canals such as the Narmada Main Canal without causing any disruption to traffic or flow.
He said the pipeline is equipped with valves stations for emergency shutdown of the pipeline in case of any contingency, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system to monitor the pipeline round the clock. The entire pipeline has been subject to high-pressure tests by hydro-testing and pneumatic testing to assure the quality of material and workmanship.
Ace Pipelines, which has so far laid around 2,500-km pipelines for oil and gas sector across India, is currently replacing a stretch of nearly 70-km pipeline for Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) in Haryana. Last year, its turnover was around ₹180 crore, he said.
Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor Corp’s wholly-owned car plant at Hansalpur in Becharaji taluka has been set up with an investment of ₹18,500 crore. This is also Suzuki Motor's first wholly-owned car plant in India and set up bypassing its Indian unit, Maruti. This plant will supply vehicles and components exclusively to Maruti..
It expects the bulk of its growth to come from India, which is projected to overtake Japan and Germany by 2020, to become the third-biggest market in the world after China and the US. In the first phase, the factory will can make 2.50 lakh vehicles annually, and gradually scale it up to a million cars for domestic and export markets.
On the other hand, Honda’s scooter-exclusive plant, set up with an investment of nearly ₹1,200 crore, has an annual capacity to manufacture 12 lakh two-wheelers. This is the Japanese two-wheeler giant’s fourth plant in India.