GAIL signs pact with Kerala for gas supply network

State-run gas transport monopoly GAIL (India) Ltd today said that its board has approved a pipeline project in southern India worth about Rs3,030 crore. The pipeline will be designed to transmit 16 mmscm per day of gas, the company said in a statement.

The line will be connected to the company's Dabhol-Bangalore pipeline, which will be laid at cost of about Rs4,540 crore.

The statement followed the signing of an agreement between GAIL and the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation in Thiruvanathapuram on Monday for developing a state-wide gas pipeline infrastructure.

The project envisages pipelines for distribution of gas from the Petronet LNG terminal, now under construction in Kochi, for industrial and other uses, including power generation and manufacture of fertilisers. Gas will also be made available for distribution to domestic, automobile and commercial end users.

GAIL will facilitate development of a pipeline from Kochi to Mangalore and Bangalore via Kanjirakode and a sub-sea pipeline from Kochi to the NTPC thermal power plant at Kayamkulam.

It is also planning gas distribution networks in various regions of the state, once the pipeline infrastructure is established. The 1,114-km Kochi-Mangalore pipeline is estimated to cost Rs3,032 crore while the Kochi-Kayamkulam pipeline is likely to cost around Rs1,000 crore.