The Hindu : Business : Competitive bidding mooted for city gas

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Friday, Nov 16, 2007
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Business

Competitive bidding mooted for city gas

Petroleum and Natural Gas Board issues draft guidelines

Stakeholders’ comments invited
Scope for more investment

NEW DELHI: The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) on Thursday proposed a competitive bidding process to select public and private entities for developing city gas distribution networks in the country.

The downstream oil regulator issued draft regulations that contain the proposed method for selection of companies and building or expansion of local gas distribution networks.

The draft also contains regulations for determination of the network tariff for the gas networks. The PNGRB invited comments of stakeholders and experts to finalise the draft regulations.

“Once finalised, these regulations would pave the way for the development of city gas distribution networks in different parts of the country in a systematic manner,” the regulator said in a statement.

These regulations would facilitate in attracting investment in the development of gas distribution networks, while protecting the interests of the consumers. Such networks would have to follow technical standards and specifications as may be prescribed by the board.

As per the proposal, the board may on its own invite preliminary bids from entities interested in laying, operating or expanding a network for any specified geographical area. The bids would then be evaluated based on the technical and tariff details submitted by the entities.

At present, State governments authorise companies to lay city gas distribution networks on the basis of their own parameters, which need not include competitive bidding. State-run Engineers India has been authorised to receive and compile the information on behalf of the board. — PTI

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