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The government will soon roll out bids for setting up city gas distribution (CGD) networks in the north eastern States and in Jammu & Kashmir.
Besides, the Centre also wants to develop the natural gas pipeline infrastructure in J&K from Jammu to Srinagar.
Last week, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) said it is initiating the consultation process for 8 geographical areas (GAs) spread across these two regions for establishing natural gas pipelines as part of the 12th CGD bidding round.
“In order to further expand the reach of natural gas in the country, PNGRB has finalised 8 GAs for which a public consultation process is being initiated to invite comments of public and stakeholders,” the regulator said.
After completion of this process, the PNGRB will launch the 12th CGD bidding round for GAs, it added.
The GAs are Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and the union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
Gas-based economy
On the rationale behind the exercise, the regulator said the government has accorded priority to shift towards a gas-based economy, with natural gas as the next-generation cheaper and less polluting fossil fuel. With the Indian economy expected to grow, creation of robust infrastructure would play a significant role in achieving this vision.
Under the CGD network, a total of 302 GAs covering around 88 per cent of the country’s geographical area and 98 per cent of its population have already been authorised.
In the last bidding round, the 11th and 11A round, a total of 67 GAs were authorised for development of the CGD Network.
Over the years, the PNGRB has been facilitating building an elaborated natural gas pipelines and CGD network in India. So far, around 33,600 km of natural gas and 13,700 km of petroleum product pipelines have been authorised.
Gas infra in J&K
The PNGRB will also initiate a public consultation process on a suo-moto proposal for development of natural gas pipeline infrastructure in the Union Territory of J&K from Jammu to Srinagar.
The pipeline will receive natural gas from the proposed Gurdaspur–Jammu natural gas pipeline for which PNGRB recently concluded the bidding process with GAIL (India) emerging as the successful bidder with the highest composite score.
In January this year, the PNGRB had invited application cum bids on single stage two bid system from the interested and eligible entities for authorisation of Gurdaspur-Jammu natural gas pipeline.
The last date for submission of bids was May 17, 2023 and for this GAIL (India) and Indian Oil Corporation had submitted their bids.
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