RIL to set up Rs 35 cr gas project in MP

With its Rs 2,000 crore gas-based power plant in the Shahdol district of Madhya Pradesh failing to take off, Reliance Industries has now offered gas to Madhya Pradesh. The company has said its group company Reliance Gas Pipeline Ltd (RGPL) will set up a pilot project with an investment of Rs 30-35 crore in Shahdol.

The company will lay a 15-km gas pipeline and will supply gas to companies like Orient Paper Mills, local units in Shahdol, and power plants situated closeby.

A government spokesperson today, quoting Reliance state coordinator Sanjay Tiwari, said, "The project will be completed with an investment of Rs 30-35 crore for laying at least a 10-15 km pipeline with a 12-inch diameter. He (Tiwari) today called on Industry Minister Babulal Gaur, who has assured him of extending all possible cooperation."

"Reliance has found abandoned coalbed methane in Shahdol and at present methane is being wasted. It is proposed to have some pilot project for the distribution of the same to local industries, power plants, and retail users in Shahdol," the company communicated to Industry Minister Babulal Gaur.

The company is reportedly making efforts to seek permission for laying a gas pipeline from Shahdol to Phoolpur in Uttar Pradesh. "It requires one to one and a half years. In the meantime Reliance has proposed to the state government to give local clearance so that coalbed methane can be distributed within Shahdol; otherwise later most of the gas will go out of the state, depriving Shahdol and other adjoining districts."

According to the government spokesperson, the company has said the right to use the 30-metre-wide land for the 10-15 km pipeline route will be settled by revenue officials, so that compensation for land could be given to its owners. The company has also sought environment clearances from the MP Pollution Control Board and forest clearance, wherever forest patches appear along the pipeline route.

The company has said: "It is in dialogue with a few firms which have agreed to invest in Shahdol once the Reliance gas distribution system gets the go-ahead from the state government." Reliance had shown interest in setting up a gas-based power plant in the state while it was exploring possibilities of gas in the Sohagpur East and West coal bad methane blocks. Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, in a meeting with the then chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Babulal Gaur, said his company was interested in setting up a 1000-Mw 'pit-head' plant at the site.

"This project failed to take off due to unavoidable circumstances," said the spokesperson.

Reliance Industries had been awarded two coalbed methane blocks, namely Sohagpur West and Sohagpur East, under the first round of the CBM policy. The Sohagpur West and Sohagpur East CBM blocks are located in the Shahdol district.