No End in Sight For GAIL Pipeline Impasse
As the stalemate over alignment of the GAIL pipeline project and the issues related to payment of compensation in Kerala continues, it is unlikely that the project will get rolling in the near future. Another roadblock for the project is the local body elections scheduled to be held in the State in October.
The pipeline project will definitely be a topic of discussion during the election, especially in North Kerala. Industry insiders point out that though the State Government has taken a pro-GAIL stance, covertly it is giving a cold shoulder to the project.
According to the government, efforts are on to expedite laying of LNG pipeline through the State, and to complete the work by mid-2016. But, whenever the GAIL resumes work, political leaders and the authorities concerned fail to extend support by controlling the protests called by local residents.
Work on the Kochi-Koottanadu-Bengaluru- Mangaluru LNG pipeline, which was held up for around three years, resumed at Edayar near here in early June, this year.
So far, only 45 km of pipelaying – from the Petronet LNG terminal at Puthuvype – has been completed.
Once pipe laying along the remaining 470 km stretch is completed, Kerala will find a place on the gas pipeline map of India. “Meanwhile, protests against the project is continuing. We are clueless about what to do next, though the monsoon is a good enough excuse not to resume work,” said sources in GAIL.
The Kochi unit of Petronet LNG Limited incurred a loss of around Rs 400 crore in the last financial year as the gas offtake from the terminal was nearly static, with little progress on laying of the supply pipeline.
The Rs 4,500-crore LNG terminal at Puthuvype was commissioned in August 2013, and was officially dedicated to the nation in January 2014.
Before a new plan is announced, the State Government wants to finish the GAIL pipeline project by next year.