Kolkata to have piped natural gas in 3 years: Dharmendra Pradhan

The oil ministry has drawn up plans to provide piped natural gas in and around the metropolis over the next three years for which a Rs 12,000-crore investment has been earmarked, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.

"Kolkata will get piped natural gas for cooking. Concrete plans have been made to set up the Jagdishpur-Haldia pipeline which will require an investment of Rs 12,000 crore", Pradhan told reporters at the launch of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).

He said that 40 per cent of the cost would be borne by the union government and the rest 60 per cent by state-owned GAIL.

Pradhan said that laying of the 2000-km pipeline from Jagdishpur to Haldia would help in the industrial development of West Bengal.

He said that the oil ministry was in touch with the West Bengal government in this regard. "The West Bengal government is cooperating with the Centre", he said.

The proposed pipeline would help the fertiliser plants in states through which it would pass, namely Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

India was also setting up an LNG terminal at Dhamra in Odisha for proposed supplies to Bangladesh.

To meet the domestic requirement of LNG, he said that bookings had been already made from the US, Australia, Mozambique, Iran, Qatar and British Columbia.

"The total LNG handling capacity in both the eastern and western coasts of the country would go up to 50 mtpa, besides there will growth in domestic supplies", he said.