The recent order by the Circuit Bench of the National Green Tribunal imposing restrictions on diesel engines is expected to provide the required thrust to completing the remaining part of the natural gas pipeline work in Kerala.
As per the earlier schedule, pending works on the second phase of the project will be awarded later this month. The bids for the work are scheduled to be opened on Friday, sources said.
Besides the support expressed by new government, the recent NGT order on diesel-fired vehicles is a pointer to the requirement for natural gas as motor fuel in the immediate future in major urban centres in the State. Vehicles in the Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Thrissur, Kozhikode, and Kannur city limits, besides Kochi, are within the purview of the NGT directive.
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Sources also said that once the pipeline was commissioned and gas supplies activated, the State government stood to realise approximately Rs.1,000 crore in VAT annually.
The project involves laying a pipeline between Kochi and Bengaluru and between Koottanad in Palakkad district and Mangaluru. A little more than 500 km of the 889-km pipeline pass through seven districts in the State. The third phase involves laying a sub-sea line to Kayamkulam.
The first phase of the pipeline project was completed in 2012 and involved laying around 50 km of the pipeline in and around Kochi linking 12 industrial units to the gas supply.
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Though works on the second phase got underway in 2012 itself, works were abandoned in 2013 following opposition from people along a few stretches of the proposed line. The opposition had been quite strong in Malappuram and Kozhikode districts.
Besides the completion of the pipeline work in Kochi, 32 km have been completed in the first phase and this includes the pipeline work for the proposed Cheemeni power project on the Kannur-Kasaragod border.
Sources said here that measurements for award of compensation had been completed for 370 km already.
While this would help speed the works, there had been false allegations from some quarters that public hearing was not held for the project, sources said.