GAIL to set up 25 CNG stations in Bangalore

State-run Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) will set up 25 CNG (compressed natural gas) stations in the bus depots of the state transport corporations to use clean energy.

The gas will be used to run buses of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC).

"The CNG will be used in the 300 new buses the transport corporations will purchase under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNRUM)," Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told reporters after a meeting with the union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas M. Veerappa Moily here on the implementation of natural gas projects and gas distribution in the city.

The CNG will be supplied through the 1,000-km-long Dabhol-Bangalore pipeline, which GAIL commissioned February 18 to supply the natural gas to the city.

"CNG will be supplied to 40 more stations that will be built across the state as the pipeline is connected to GAIL's network from Dabhol, which enables transportation of natural gas from any part of the country to the state," Siddaramaiah said.

The natural gas will also be used in the proposed 700 mw gas-based Bidadi power plant, about 40 km from here, and the 450 mw Yelahanka gas plant, about 30 km from the city.

"As about 80 percent of the gas pipeline passes through Karnataka, the state has an opportunity to create a green corridor," Moily said after the meeting.

The Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, being set up at a cost of Rs.355 crore near the Bangalore international airport on the city's outskirts, will work on fire and safety technologies in the oil and gas sector.

"GAIL will also open a regional gas management centre in the city to meet the requirements in south India," Moily said.