GAIL India Ltd said it awarded the first contract for purchase of the 108 km, 24-inch diameter pipes under the Barauni—Guwahati segment of the Jagdishpur—Haldia & Bokaro-Dhamra Natural Gas Pipeline (JHBDPL) project to M/s Ratnamani for Rs 125 crore.
“Line pipe procurement activities for the rest of the 600 km trunkline upto Guwahati is at an advanced stage of tender process,” the natural gas company said.
Gail said the project is progressing at full swing and the first phase is scheduled for completion by December 2018.
The Barauni—Guwahati section, to be executed at a capital outlay of Rs 3,300 crore, is an part of the 3,405 km-Iong JHBDPL project, also known as ‘Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga’.
The project, executed by GAIL, is aimed at connecting eastern and north-eastern India to the existing natural gas grid that is focused on western India.
The project is planned to cover eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Assam.
It is supposed to give a fillip to the economic and industrial development of eastern India by supplying natural gas to fertilizer units, power plants, refineries, steel processing plants and other industries.
It will also provide clean energy to households and transportation through the city gas distribution networks enroute the pipeline.
City Gas distribution projects have been commissioned at Varanasi, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack while project activities are under progress at other cities of eastern India.