Indian Oil Corporation’s upcoming LPG Import Terminal at Puthuvypeen, Kochi is going to help reduce the backlog for LPG cylinder supply in Kerala according to an official statement from the company.

The release said that it currently takes 15 days to transport the cooking fuel to the state. “It would also minimise the movement of bulk LPG tankers through the highways of the State,” the statement added.

IndianOil is currently moving bulk LPG from Mangalore to various LPG bottling plants in North Kerala through about 100 bullet trucks every day, which ply on narrow highways.

A pipeline connecting the proposed LPG Import Terminal to Kochi Refineries Ltd. and the LPG bottling plants at Udayamperoor, Palakkad, Coimbatore, Erode and Salem would go a long way in reducing congestion on the State highways.

The project is being set up at a cost of Rs 2,200 crore and will comprise an Import Terminal, a multi-user liquid terminal, the Kochi-Salem LPG pipeline and a bulk terminal at Palakkad.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had permitted IndianOil to continue with the work in August 2016.

The terminal will store LPG in mounded vessels, which are considered the safest in the industry worldwide. These vessels are made of 45-mm thick boiler quality steel plates and will be buried deep in the sand, surrounded by a 1.25-metre thick reinforced concrete wall.

The terminal is being equipped with automatic fire-protection systems as per the norms of the Oil Industry Safety Directorate (OISD). It is being constructed in the Special Economic Zone notified by the Central Government in 2006 for the specific purpose of setting up industries. IOCL said that the coastal stretch of the project is only 690 metres and hence will not disturb any of the fishing activities.

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