GAIL awards major contracts for Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga

State-run Gas (India) Limited (GAIL) has placed orders for another 400-km natural gas pipeline project under ambitious Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga (PMUG). The orders were placed for 400-km for pipeline from Dobhi (Bihar) to Durgapur (West Bengal).
With this, the total pipe supply orders for 2,100 km of Jagdishpur-Haldia & Bokaro-Dhamra Natural Gas Pipeline (JHBDPL) project have been placed. GAIL also has placed 1,700 km of line laying orders.

Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga

The ambitious 2,655 km long JHBDPL project also known as ‘Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga’ project originates at Jagdishpur (Uttar Pradesh). The main trunk of pipeline ends to Haldia (West Bengal) and Dhamra (Odisha). The pipeline passes through Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha. The total cost of project is Rs. 12,940 crore and is targeted to be completed by 2019.
The project is being implemented by state-run gas utility GAIL. It will augment GAIL’s existing network of trunk pipelines covering the length of around 11,000 km by 2540 km.

Significance

The project is considered as a major step towards collective growth and development of the Eastern region of India. It will provide clean energy to households and transportation in the cities en-route the pipeline. It will usher Industrial development in East India by supplying environmentally clean natural gas to fertiliser and power plant, refineries, steel plants and other industries. Seven big east India cities viz. Varanasi, Jamshedpur, Patna, Ranchi, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack – will be the major beneficiary of this project.

Gas (India) Limited (GAIL)

GAIL is the largest state-owned natural gas processing and distribution company in India. It is headquartered in New Delhi. It has following business segments: natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas transmission, liquid hydrocarbon, city gas distribution, petrochemical, exploration and production, GAILTEL and electricity generation. It was conferred with the Maharatna status in February 2013 by the Government of India. Only six other Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) enjoy this coveted status amongst all central CPSEs.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2017