GAIL plans Rs8,000 crore investment in pipelines

The board of GAIL (India) Ltd has approved investments of Rs8,000 crore for setting up new pipelines and augmenting capacity of its existing pipeline, U D Choubey, chairman and managing director of GAIL told a media briefing today.

GAIL will invest Rs7,600 crore for a 2,050 km pipeline from Jagdishpur to Halida. The pipeline will consist of 800 km, 36" trunk pipeline and 1,250 km spurlines of diameter 30" / 24" / 18" / 12", he said, adding, "This is so far the single largest investment in any pipeline by GAIL."

The project will be undertaken in two phases. Under Part A of the first phase, 1,410 km of pipeline will be laid from Haldia to Phulpur, along with spurlines to various consumers like Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation at Durgapur and Barauni, Fertiliser Corporation of India at Sindri and Barauni, power plant at Barh and Bettiah and City Gate Stations (CGS) at Patna, Chapra, Siwan, Gopalganj and Bettiah.

Under Phase-I B of the project, spurlines and feeder lines will be laid for a length of 450 km to the city gate stations at Kolkata, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Varanasi and Allahabad and WBDPC at Sagardighi.

Phase-II of the project will involve installation of a compressor at Haldia and laying of 190 km of feeder lines to CSES Haldia, WBPDC Bandel and Katwa, DPL Durgapur and SAIL's plants at Durgapur and Bokaro and petrochemical plant at Barauni, GAIL said.

The first phase will involve a capital expenditure of Rs5,732.50 crore while phase II will involve an expenditure of Rs919.72 crore, while another Rs943.96 crore will be spent under the second phase of the pipeline.