Seven geographical areas (GAs) covering ten districts in Tamil Nadu have been identified in the 9th City Gas Distribution (CGD) bidding round.
In the next five years, a sum of nearly ₹2,100 crore is likely to be invested in these seven GAs with scope to employ around 15,200 direct employment for skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled category, according to R Sitharthan, Executive Director, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC).
A CGD network is an interconnected network of pipelines for supply of gas to domestic, industrial or commercial premises and CNG stations situation in a specified GA.
On November 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of CGD projects in 65 GAs in 129 districts under the 9th CGD bidding round recently awarded by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, he told newspersons.
A handout given by IOC says that Adani Gas Ltd will be the distributor of CGD in four districts of Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur and Tiruppur while IOC has got in Coimbatore and Salem; Torrent Gas in Chennai and Tiruvallur; AG&P LNG Marketing in Kanchipuram and a consortium of AG&P LNG Marketing & Atlantic Gulf & Pacific in Ramanathapuram.
Sitharthan said IOC would cover over 9 lakh customers each in Coimbatore and Salem with LNG likely to be imported from Kochi port in future. IOC will use GAIL’s pipeline to take it to the two cities for gas distribution to customers, he said.