PM to open Kochi M’luru pipeline on Jan 5

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the Kochi-Mangaluru Natural Gas Pipeline on January 5, at 11 am via video conferencing, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) informed on Sunday. The pipeline will supply environmentfriendly and affordable fuel in the form of Piped Natural Gas (PNG) to households and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to the transportation sector, the PMO said in a statement. “The event marks an important milestone towards the creation of ‘One Nation One Gas Grid’. Governors and Chief Ministers of Karnataka and Kerala, along with Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas will also be present on the occasion,” PMO said. “The 450 km long pipeline has been built by GAIL (India) Ltd. It has a transportation capacity of 12 Million Metric Standard Cubic Metres per day, and will carry natural gas from the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Regasification Terminal at Kochi (Kerala) to Mangaluru (Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka), while passing through Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod districts,” it added. The PMO said that the total cost of the project was about Rs 3000 crore and its construction created over 12 lakh man-days of employment. “Laying of the pipeline was an engineering challenge as the route of the pipeline necessitated it to cross water bodies at more than 100 locations,” the statement added.