The Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) has commissioned Crisil to make an appraisal study on conveying Krishna water from the foreshores of the Nagarjunasagar reservoir to Hyderabad through a 130-km long pipeline to augment the City's drinking water supply.
The project is expected to involve an investment of around Rs 700 crore and if it was found to be techno-economically viable, GAIL will set up a joint venture to ground it, chairman and managing director, Proshanto Banerjee said here today.
Asked to explain the shift from gas to water, Banerjee said GAIL is " in the business of laying, maintaining and operating pipelines" and it mattered little whether the pipelines were for conveying oil, gas or water. The issue of augmenting drinking water supply in Hyderabad by tapping Krishna waters has been under discussion for the past three decades, but last month the government approved a project estimated to involve an investment of Rs 800 crore.
It has invited global tenders for grounding the project on private public participation basis. GAIL is also understood to have picked up one of the tender documents.