MANGALURU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate the Kochi-Mangaluru natural gas pipeline built and operated by GAIL India Ltd., to the nation virtually on January 5 at 11am.
The virtual inaugural ceremony will be attended by governor of Kerala, Arif Mohammad Khan, Karnataka governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala, chief minister B S Yediyurappa, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan and Union minister of petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan, said GAIL India Ltd. chairman and managing director Manoj Jain at a virtual press conference on Saturday.
The pipeline will bring convenient and uninterrupted supply of environment-friendly and affordable fuel in the form of piped natural gas (PNG) to households, commercial units and compressed natural gas (CNG) across different city gas distribution (CGD) areas in different geographical areas, he said.
“The work on laying of 450-km long natural gas pipeline has already been completed with the support of Kerala and Karnataka governments. We have already started supplying natural gas to Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers (MCF) Limited and we also have plans to commence supply to OMPL and MRPL shortly. We have already started supplying 0.6-0.7 million standard cubic metre gas to MCF per day. Meanwhile, 0.5 million standard cubic metre gas would be supplied to MRPL and OMPL soon,” he said.
The supply of gas through pipelines marks a milestone in spreading awareness on the use of natural gas, which is more eco-friendly. The LNG terminal of Petronet was commissioned in Kochi a few years ago, but was working with a low-capacity utilisation due to lack of connectivity. With the completion of the new pipeline work, the connectivity will improve. The work on laying pipelines for household connections in Mangaluru city is progressing, he said adding that supply of piped natural gas will be commenced in few colonies of the city by the end of 2021.