BHUBANESWAR: Three companies- Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), Bharat Gas Resources and Adani Gas Limited- will invest around Rs 3400 crore in 17 districts of the state to provide piped natural gas to households, commercial and industrial segments under the Central government’s City Gas Distribution (CGD) project.CGD is the interconnected network of pipelines for supply of gas to domestic, industrial or commercial premises and CNG stations situated in a specified Geographical Areas (GAs). The project is expected to provide employment to around 20,000 people of the state. It will be completed in eight years, official sources said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay foundation stone for gas projects in 63 GAs, including seven from Odisha, on Thursday in New Delhi through videoconferencing. These seven GAs are Sundargarh and Jharsuguda districts, Jajpur and Keonjhar districts, Angul and Dhenkanal districts, Balasore, Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj districts, Bargarh, Deogarh and Sambalpur districts, Ganjam, Nayagarh and Puri districts, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada districts.Four GAs have been awarded to Bharat Gas Resources Limited with an approximate project cost of Rs 1252 crore. It will invest Rs 174 crore for Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada districts, Rs 466 crore for Jajpur and Keonjhar districts, Rs 364 crore for Angul and Dhenkanal districts and Rs 248 crore for Bargarh, Deogarh and Sambalpur districts respectively, said a senior official of Bharat Gas.GAIL got two GAs. It will invest Rs 944 crore for Sundargarh and Jharsuguda districts to connect around 1 lakh households through 20 compressed natural gas (CNG) stations. Similarly, it will spend Rs 728 crore for Ganjam, Nayagarh and Puri districts to connect 51,000 households by setting up of 15 CNG stations, said R Choudhury, CGM (city gas management), GAIL. Adani Gas Limited has bagged the award for Balasore, Bhadrak and Mayurbhanj districts. It will lay pipelines and set up 20 CNG stations with an investment of Rs 500 crore to provide domestic connections to 1,50,464 households in the area, said a senior company official.Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) is in the process of launching the 10th CGD bidding round in 50 GAs spread over 14 states, 123 districts and covering additional 24 per cent of India’s population.

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