Ranchi, October 15, 2015: Carrying forward the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to connect eastern India to the Natural Gas grid, the Government of Jharkhand and GAIL (India) Limited today signed a Gas Cooperation Agreement (GCA) for creation of Natural Gas and City Gas Distribution infrastructure, which will facilitate construction of “Urja Ganga” Jagdishpur – Haldia Pipeline project in the state.
The GCA was signed here in the presence of Raghubar Das, Chief Minister of Jharkhand and B C Tripathi, GAIL Chairman and Managing Director by K Ravi Kumar, IAS, Director, Industries, Government of Jharkhand and A K Jana, GAIL Executive Director (Marketing – Joint Venture & International Gas Sourcing).
The Jagdishpur – Haldia Pipeline (JHPL) is slated to pass through six districts of Jharkhand, i.e., Bokaro, Giridih, Hazaribagh, Singhbhum, Ranchi and Dhanbad. It will have a total of 340 kms in the state, of which 174 kms will be mainline and 166 kms spurlines.
The pipeline can be used to provide Natural Gas as fuel to the Steel Authority of India plant in Bokaro, fertilizer plant at Sindri which is under revival and proposed CGD networks in Ranchi and Jamshedpur. It is estimated that the Natural Gas demand in Jharkhand can reach 8.80 MMSCMD.
As part of the GCA signed today, GAIL and the Jharkhand Government will evaluate ways for cooperation in development of use of eco-friendly fuel Natural Gas and related infrastructure, promotion of Joint Venture for CGD projects and study various options to evaluate the energy demand (including for Natural Gas, LPG and other liquid hydrocarbons) in the state.
