Gas Authority of India Limited (Gail) will be setting up a joint venture with the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (Tidco). The new com-pany will make an investment to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore over the next five years across Tamil Nadu for setting up a power plant and pipeline infrastructure to carry LNG.
In a statement at the state Assembly, chief minister J Jayalalithaa said that the Tamil Nadu government had signed an MoU with Indian Oil Corporation to set up LNG terminals in north Chennai with a capacity of 5 million tonne a year.
The facility will distribute 18 million cubic metre of LNG every day for power generation, industries, vehicles and households, through the pipeline, which will be set up by GAIL.
The MoU was signed between B C Tripathi, chairman and managing director of Gail, and N Sundaradevan, chairman and managing director of Tidco, in the presence of J Jayalaithaa in Chennai on Thursday.
The chief minister added that Gail was setting an LNG terminal in Kochi and was planning to create pipeline infrastructure between Kochi and Bangalore via Tamil Nadu. About 310 kilometre will come under Tamil Nadu and the pipelines will be in the districts of Coimbatore, Salem, Erode, Tirupur, Nammakkal, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri.
“Gail has agreed to supply gas for industries, transportation and for household purposes (in main cities) on this 310-km route. It will invest around Rs 1,000 crore,” the chief minister said.
Besides, the company has said that it will invest another Rs 500 crore to carry six million cubic metre of LNG through a pipeline between Salem and Cuddalore on a daily basis and another Rs 2,500 crore to set up a floating storage degasification unit in south coastal zones.
“We have also planned to set up a 500-Mw, gas-based power plant with an investment of around Rs 2,000 crore. Overall, the new JV will invest around Rs 10,000 crore over the next five years,” the chief minister said.