PM Modi to inaugurate GAIL's Barauni-Guwahati Natural Gas Pipeline tomorrow

Guwahati (Assam) [India], March 8 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Barauni-Guwahati Natural Gas Pipeline (BGPL) of GAIL (India) Limited remotely from Jorhat on Saturday. It is a milestone project linking the North Eastern part of India to the National Gas Grid on Saturday, an official statement said.
This was announced here today by GAIL Executive Director (Projects) A K Tripathi at a press conference.
According to the statement released by GAIL, the inauguration program will be held in the presence of Governor Gulab Chand Kataria, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways & Ayush Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas & Labour and Employment Rameswar Teli and Member of Parliament Queen Oja.

The 718 km long BGPL passes through the states of Bihar, West Bengal and Assam and has been laid with an investment of Rs 3,992 crore by GAIL, a Maharatna PSU under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. It is an integral part of the Jagdishpur-Haldia and Bokaro-Dhamra Natural Gas Pipeline project, popularly known as Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga. It will link the North Eastern Gas Grid (NEGG) to the National Gas Grid (NGG).

BGPL passes through six districts of Bihar (Begusarai, Khagaria, Madhepura, Purnia, Araria and Kishanganj), five districts of West Bengal (Uttar Dinajpur, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar) and nine districts of Assam (Kokrajhar, Chirang, Barpeta, Baksa, Nalbari, Kamrup, Darrang, Bongaigaon and Kamrup Metropolitan).

The 24-inch diameter pipeline has a capacity to transport around 2.5 MMSCMD of Natural Gas. The project will create vital infrastructure to supply Natural Gas, which is environment-friendly and cost-effective, to domestic households, industries, commercial units and automobile sectors in the region, leading to more investments and employment generation.

BGPL will supply Natural Gas to 9 GAs (Geographical Areas), covering 31 districts of Bihar, West Bengal and Assam, of City Gas Distribution (CGD) entities authorized by the Petroleum & Natural Gas Regulatory Board along the pipeline route. This will facilitate around 29 lakh domestic Piped Natural Gas (PNG) connections under these GAs in the coming days. In addition to this, more than 614 CNG stations will be established in these GAs.
As per the statement, this Natural Gas Pipeline will prove to be a major asset for the development of Bihar, West Bengal and North East India. It will provide a reliable source of clean energy, economic growth and the overall well-being of people in this region.

The transportation of Natural Gas through BGPL will substitute the use of other fossil fuels and contribute to a reduction of around 7.67 lakh tons per annum of carbon dioxide emission when operated at its full capacity.

During the implementation of BGPL, direct and indirect employment of about 15.8 lakh man-days were generated during the construction phase and around 70,000 man-days during the operation and maintenance phase.

BGPL is a unique Natural Gas Pipeline project in terms of application of technology. The topographical challenges encountered were diverse such as uneven land, hilly terrain, muddy turf and even deep water which were overcome efficiently by the GAIL team while meeting strict deadlines.

The pipeline passed across four rivers - Teesta, Raidak, Sankosh and Kanamakra - with a wider width. The execution team worked with the application of micro tunnelling, adopted for the first time in GAIL. The mighty Brahmaputra river was crossed over a width of 3.6 km by adopting the Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) process, besides two rigs intersection technique from both sides, the statement added.

All mitigation measures were adopted to minimize the environmental impact of deteriorating water quality, loss of topsoil and vegetative cover along the route.
GAIL is India's largest natural gas company with diversified interests across the natural gas value chain of trading, transmission, LPG production and transmission, LNG re-gasification, petrochemicals, city gas, E&P, etc. (ANI)