Bharat Gas to invest Rs 4,000 cr in two Maharashtra projects

Mumbai: Bharat Gas Resources, a subsidiary of Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) plans to invest around Rs 4,000 crore for the two geographical areas (GAs) awarded to it in Maharashtra in the ninth round of bidding for city gas distribution projects.

BGRL had won development rights for 11 GAs in the ninth round out of which two, including Ahmednagar-Aurangabad and Sangli-Satara, are in Maharashtra.

"We will be investing around Rs 4,000 crore for the two projects in Maharashtra. We have committed to give piped natural gas (PNG) connections to 8.56 lakh households in these two projects and 170 CNG stations," BPCL executive director (Gas) Rajendra Natekar told reporters here Tuesday.

He further said Unison Enviro and Maharashtra Natural Gas, who have also won GAs in Maharashtra, will be investing another Rs 4000 crore for setting up CNG stations and spreading PNG network in the state.

As per the commitment made by the various entities in the GAs, over 20 lakh domestic connections and 381 CNG stations would be installed largely during a period of eight years up to September 2026 in addition to 7,171 inch km of steel pipeline.

Natekar further informed that prime minister Narendra Modi will launch the 10th city gas licensing round Wednesday that will help extend coverage of CNG and piped cooking gas connections to 70 percent of the population.

Apart from this, Modi will also lay foundation stones marking the beginning of work for city gas networks in at least 62 cities, licences for which were given out in the previous bidding round that concluded a couple of months back.

In the 10th bid round for licences to retail CNG to automobiles and piped natural gas to household kitchens, 50 GAs spread over 124 districts in 14 states, covering 24 percent of India's population and 18 percent of its area, are

being offered.