The Andhra Pradesh government is drawing up plans to distribute cooking gas through pipelines directly to households in Hyderabad by 2014. A roadmap for this will be prepared in a fortnight, according to municipal administration and urban development minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy.
Piped gas supplies for other urban areas would be considered in subsequent phases
Addressing the media after a review meeting on gas-related issues, the minister said Bhagyanagar Gas Limited, a special purpose vehicle, and the Infrastructure Corporation of Andhra Pradesh had been asked to prepare the plan for piped gas distribution and also assess the quantity of gas required for the purpose. The government aims to provide piped gas at about 25 per cent less than the regular gas cylinder price.
According to information, the state government would set up Krishna Godavari Gas Network Limited, a joint venture company, to implement the piped gas project. Also, a plan is being worked out to introduce compressed natural gas (CNG) for public transport vehicles like autos and buses. "We need a lot of CNG stations, re-filling points and storage units,” the minister said.
About 1,000 CNG stations would be set up set in four years, officials said.