THE NEWS INDIAN EXPRESS Piped Gas, CNG to Get Big Boost HYDERABAD:
Piped gas supply and usage of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is likely to get a big boost in the city.
Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas will be pumping in Rs 1,300 crore for taking up various projects in Telangana. Of the Rs 1,300 crore, the ministry is spending Rs 100 crore this financial year for its ambitious expansion of usage of PNG and CNG in the city, Union minister of petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan announced here on Friday.
Pradhan was in the city to review his ministry’s initiatives in Telangana. Speaking to reporters, Pradhan said there are only 20 CNG stations and 21,000 CNG vehicle users in the state. Similarly, only 1,000 households have PNG supply.
‘’Subject to cooperation from the local government, we want to expand usage of CNG and PNG in Hyderabad in the next two years. This year, we are releasing Rs 100 crore for the ambitious expansion of PNG and CNG,’’ the Union minister said.
With the Rs 100 crore investment, we will get 1,000 times more usage of the PNG and CNG in the city, he said.
With respect to LPG connections, he said there are 86 lakh households in the state while the connections are 74 lakh only leaving a gap of 12 lakh. ‘’The state government is having Deepam scheme while our ministry is also having a scheme for BPL families. We will see how these can be synchronised to give 100 per cent connections in the next two years,’’ the minister said.
Pradhan said out of the four bottling units in the state, the capacity of two of them will be doubled. Apart from this, two more bottling units will also be set up taking the number to six.
On other investments, Pradhan said in phase-I, a pipeline will be laid from Paradip coast in Orissa to Hyderabad with an outlay of Rs 2,500 crore. The pipeline will be laid simultaneously from both sides and Rs 250 crore will be spend in TS alone. In the second phase, another pipeline will be taken up from Mumbai to Hyderabad and a terminal will come up on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
Asked on how the department will supply gas to transport and household sector when there is a shortage, Pradhan said the earlier government had prioritised power sector and fertiliser plants while allocating gas.
Pradhan said the next round of auction of oil and gas blocks under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) will be held by the end of 2015-16 fiscal.
He said the government is mulling to introduce open acreage system instead of allocating blocks and also plans to change the formula for production sharing agreement.
Stating that the 10th round of auction will be held this financial year, Pradhan said the ministry is talking with stakeholders, experts and is observing the different models of the world.
The minister said they are mulling three changes in the auctioning system that includes abolishing block auctioning and shifting to open acreage system.
