CM Oommen Chandy to launch City Gas today

KOCHI: The much hyped city gas project, providing piped gas connection to residents in Kochi, will be formally launched on Saturday. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will inaugurate the project by giving a connection to Ernakaulam Medical College in Kalamasserry.

On the inaugural day, 10 connections to the canteens in the medical college and a few nearby houses will be provided. The city gas distribution project, promoted by Indian Oil Adani Gas Private Ltd (IOAGPL), hopes to provide piped gas connections to 40,700 households in Ernakulam and surrounding areas in the next five years.

“Kochi will be the first city in South India to have piped gas connectivity”, Rajeev Sharma, CEO of Adani Gas, told reporters. The company will provide the gas by sourcing it from the LNG Terminal at Puthu Vypin in Kochi.

At present the city gas project will be using the pipeline network installed by GAIL, for providing connectivity to industrial houses. “Feeder lines from the GAIL pipeline will be established for providing connectivity to residents”, Mr. Sharma said.

The pipeline infrastructure developed in Kochi will be able to cater to the needs of three types of consumers. Apart from piped gas to residents, the network will also be equipped to provide compressed natural gas to transport vehicles and LNG for industries.

The completion of the gas pipeline network will end the perennial problem of LPG shortage, Mr. Sharma said.

Stressing the safety of the network Mr. Sharma said every 150 metre in the network would carry a warning system. On the pricing front, Mr. Sharma said on an average, a 40 per cent reduction is expected when LNG is converted to piped gas.