GAIL places order for 345 km pipeline laying job

GAIL India, the nation's biggest gas marketer, has placed orders for laying work of a 345-km section of the Jagadishpur-Haldia-Bokaro-Dhamra gas pipeline, helping expedite the Rs 13,000-crore project.

"GAIL has initiated a major step towards the construction of the Jagadishpur-Haldia-Bokaro-Dhamra natural gas pipeline (JHBDPL) by approving placement of orders for pipeline laying work of 345 km from Phulpur to Dobhi," the company said in a statement.

The cost of the 345-km stretch would be Rs 306 crore and contracts have been placed on JSIW Infrastructure Pvt Ltd and IL&FS Engineering & Construction Co Ltd.

Laying work would commence by the end of October and is targeted to be completed by December 2018, it said.

The government is supporting the project by providing 40 per cent of the project cost or Rs 5,176 crore as capital grant over a five year period. The project will cost Rs 12,940 crore.

The first phase at a project cost of Rs 3,200 crore and will span 755 km to cover Phulpur, Mani, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Dobhi, Silao, Patna and Barauni. Pipeline construction is already under progress along Gaya-Barauni-Patna section.

The 2,539 km long JHBDPL is scheduled for completion by December 2020 and will connect major cities and towns enroute for commencing piped natural gas to homes across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha in addition to supplying feed gas to anchor fertilizer units at Gorakhpur, Barauni and Sindri.

Previously, GAIL had placed pipeline supply orders on Jindal Saw Ltd, MAN Industries (India) Ltd, Essar Steel India Ltd and China's Zhongyou BSS (Qinhuangdao) Petro pipe Co Ltd.

"The JHBDPL pipeline network shall serve to be the gateway for rapidly expanding natural gas based clean energy to Eastern India spanning across five states ushering a new era of growth and development with a potential to serve as a natural gas hub for the neighbouring Asian economies of Nepal and Bangladesh," the statement said.