Centre inaugurates, lays foundation stone of several pipeline projects

The central government has inaugurated the Vijayawada-Dharmapuri petroleum product pipeline. The project involved laying of a 697 km petroleum pipeline from Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited’s Vizag-Vijayawada-Secunderabad pipeline from Vijayawada to Dharmapuri in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Besides, the 488 km long Chengalpet (IP101)-Sayalkudi (IP105) section of the Ennore-Tuticorin natural gas pipeline was also inaugurated. The Ennore-Tuticorin a natural gas pipeline involves laying of natural gas pipeline passing through Ennore, Thiruvallur, Bengaluru, Puducherry, Nagapattinam, Madurai, Ramanathapuram and Tuticorin spanning about 1,250 km. The initial capacity of the line will be at least 35 million standard cubic metres per day (mscmd) expandable up to 84.67 mscmd in 25 years. Meanwhile, it also laid the foundation stone of the Krishnagiri-Coimbatore section spanning about 323 km under Phase II of the Kochi-Kanjirakode-Bengaluru/Mangaluru gas pipeline. The Kochi-Kanjirakode-Bengaluru/Mangaluru gas pipeline, being implemented by GAIL (India) Limited, involves the construction of a 1,156 km long pipeline with a capacity of 16 mscmd, including 4 mscmd as the common carrier and pipeline design pressure of 92 kg per square cm passing through Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.