Pradhan says Rs 1.2 lakh cr investment planned for city gas network expansion

New Delhi, Aug 26: India will see an investment of about Rs 1.2 lakh crore in the roll out of city gas network in almost 300 districts by 2030 as a massive expansion is planned for CNG dispensing stations and pipelines supplying cooking gas to household kitchens, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday. With a licence to retail CNG and piped gas to household kitchens given out for 136 geographical areas or GAs in last one year, the coverage of city gas network would be 70 per cent of country’s population, he said here.

Pradhan was speaking at an event organised to mark the commencement of work on 50 GAs awarded in the 10th bid round to firms such as Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Adani GasNSE 0.34 % and Bharat Gas earlier this year.

“Five years ago, city gas distribution (CGD) network spanned 34 GAs and now it has expanded to 228 GAs covering 406 districts,” he said.