The Uttar Pradesh Government has decided to set up five biofuel projects in the State, Governor Ram Naik said on Tuesday.
The projects will involve an investment of ₹1,700 crore. “The projects are expected to be set up in five districts — Sitapur, Hapur, Meerut, Bareilly and Muzaffarnagar,” he said addressing the valedictory session of the 13th edition of Petrotech here.
He said the projects will help boost the profile of renewals and biofuels. Uttar Pradesh has the largest population in India with ₹22.7 crore and with the exception of the US, China and Indonesia, more populous than several European countries combined.
Naik, who was Union Oil Minister during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government (1999-2004), said currently 15 geographical areas in the State have City Gas Distribution networks (CGD), while authorisation has been awarded for developing such network in 22 more districts. With the 10th CGD bid round expected to conclude shortly, 10 more geographical areas in the State will be on offer for developing CGD. He said after the completion of this round, 70 per cent of the country’s population will have access to these networks.
The Governor said the construction of Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga pipeline is expected to help revive fertilizer plants in Gorakhpur, which when operational by 2020-21 will help India becoming self-sufficient in urea production. “Transparency is being brought in gas pricing and competition through plans to establish gas trading hub, open and fair access to pipelines and review of pipeline tariff structure,” he said.