Kochi: Kerala will burn the first piped gas burner in February when the Indian Oil-Adani Gas Private Limited commissions its pilot project for the Kochi city gas distribution project at north Kalamassery.
“We have already awarded the contracts and ordered for the steel pipe,” Adani Gas chief executive officer Rajeev Sharma told DC here on Wednesday. “We expect all the permits and licences to be in by early December. The state government is offering us all possible help and we are confident that we will meet the deadline.”
The registration for connections will begin in January. “The price has not been fixed as of now but it will definitely be lower than that of LPG,” Mr Sharma said.
The pilot project will cover about 200 homes and some commercial establishments. The Ernakulam Medical College will also get the connection as part of the pilot project, he said. The company is targeting consumers in the domestic, transport, commercial and industrial segments.
“We will complete the laying of pipelines in the rest of the city before the monsoon so that we can start giving connections even during the monsoon,” Mr Sharma said.
The pilot project will entail laying of about 60 km of pipeline: 30 km along NH 47 and an equal length on state roads. “We estimate that when we complete the project, we would have laid about 5,000 km of pipelines across the city,” Mr Sharma said. The 50:50 joint venture between Indian Oil Corporation and Adani Gas Private Limited had won the Kochi city gas distribution project early this year. The company later presented a performance guarantee of Rs 4,428 crore with the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB). The regulator issued the final authorization on October 14 after the Delhi High Court disposed of a petition filed against the company by Synergy Steels ltd, the second bidder for the project.
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