Gail Finishes East India Pipe Early

First phase of Gail’s ambitious east India gas pipeline will be completed before the scheduled target date of December 2018, the company said April 13.

The 2,655 Km Jagdishpur-Haldia & Bokaro-Dhamra Natural Gas Pipeline (JHBDPL) project, also known as the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga project was inaugurated by Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in July 2015. The pipeline will pass through eastern states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha. Gail has till now invested rupees 74bn ($1.3bn) in the project.

“The project is progressing in full swing and first phase of the project will be completed before the scheduled target date of December 2018,” Gail said. The company also said that its has placed pipe laying orders of rupees 7.8bn for about 530 km of pipeline connectivity from Bokaro (in Jharkhand) to Angul (in Odisha) under the JHBDPL project. “With these awards, major contracts of the project, i.e. pipe supply and laying contract orders for 2,200 km have been finalised,” Gail said.

“The schedule completion date for Phase –I of the project from Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh to Dobhi, Patna and Baruani in Bihar is Dec '2018 and we are confident of completing it ahead of schedule. City gas project activities are also progressing well. The project will create a boon for clean industrial development in the eastern part of the country," Gail chairman BC Tripathi said.

The project will supply natural gas to fertilizer plants, power plant, refineries, steel plants and other industries. The project will also provide natural gas to households and transportation in the cities en-route the pipeline. The city gas network laying activity in Varanasi, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack has already commenced. Project activities will start on ground in other cities namely Patna, Ranchi and Jamshedpur by next month, according to Gail.

Gail has achieved its annual targeted total capital outlay and has expended around rupees 40bn during the year to March 2018. The company will be spending its targeted capital outlay of rupees 64bn in the current fiscal year largely for the 4000 km of pipe line and city gas projects it is presently executing, Tripathi said.