GAIL to start work on Dabhol-Bidadi project

Work on the 800-km pipeline to transport gas from the LNG terminal in Dabhol to Bidadi near Bangalore will commence in July this year.

Gas Authority of India Ltd, which signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government recently, will spend Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) this year to lay the pipeline, a senior company official said.

"We have opened a office in Bangalore and have recruited a team of 60 officials to start work on the project. The work will simultaneously commence at 10 locations along the proposed route for the gas pipeline. We are very confident that the project will be completed by March 2012 and the gas available for end-users," Prabhat Singh, a senior executive of GAIL said.

Making a presentation on 'Power sector opportunities in Karnataka' at the Global Investors' Meet here on Friday, he said the tendering work was in advanced stages of completion and work would start by the end of July this year. The total cost of the project is estimated at Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion).

Gas will be imported from abroad in the form of liquefied natural gas and then pumped under high pressure through the pipeline.

According to the MoU, GAIL and the Karnataka government intend to collaborate and also invest and engage in implementing, operating and managing the city gas distribution/CNG project and other projects on mutual interest. GAIL will provide gas for the city gas projects and Karnataka State Industrial Investment and Development Corporation will act as a nodal agency on behalf of the state government.

The gas pipeline has a capacity to carry 16 MMSCMD in the first phase. It also has a provision for connectivity with the KG basin via Gulbarga, Bijapur spurline.

GAIL operates 7,000 km of pipelines in the country and is in the process of investing $6 billion in laying another 5,000 km of pipeline in the country, of which 2,500 km would be in Karnataka, Singh added.