By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, October 20, 2017: Union petroleum & natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday launched the Piped Natural Gas (PNG) supply system here with rolling out of the first phase of the project.

The Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) commenced the supply of environment-friendly PNG in 255 houses in Nalco Nagar, Chandrasekharpur in the first phase.

“Around 25,000 households in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack will get PNG connection in their kitchens by December 2019 as part of the City Gas Distribution (CGD) project. The number of PNG connections will be gradually ramped up in the next three to five years,” said Ashutosh Karnatak, GAIL director of projects, GAIL.

GAIL has taken up the Bhubaneswar and Cuttack CGD projects with an estimated capital expenditure of Rs 1,700 crore, of which Rs 400 crore will be spent in the next three to five years, he added.

GAIL proposes to construct the natural gas pipeline in the state at an estimated investment of Rs 4,000 crore which will have a length of about 769 km covering 13 districts — Bhadrak, Jajpur, Dhenkanal, Angul, Sundergarh, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Debagarh, Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Khordha, Puri and Kendrapara.

It will also connect major industrial clusters of Khurda, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Angul, Dhenkanal, Kalinganagar, Jajpur and Paradip.