UP firm ready to supply domestic gas

Central UP Gas Ltd (CUGL) plans to start supplying compressed natural gas to automobiles from the first quarter of next year.

The company, which is working to establish a city gas distribution network in Kanpur, may have to face competition from the private sector.

The UP State Industrial Development Corporation, the nodal agency for city gas distribution in the state, has invited expressions of interest for giving "no objection certificates" to bidders who want to establish city gas distribution networks.

Some of the influential bidders have bid for the NoC for Kanpur as well.

The CUGL management says these cities do not need to have more than one distributor. CUGL, therefore, has invested or placed orders for work contracts worth Rs 19 crore.

These include four compressors of Rs 10 crore with the US-based Dressar Rand, line pipes of Rs 4 crore with Welspun and Maharashtra Seamless, and contracts for civil works for the CNG stations worth Rs 2 crore to SLR Constructions.

Besides, land for the establishment of the stations has been acquired in Fazalgunj, Vikas Nagar, and Juhi, and various BPCL retail petrol stations have been surveyed. Managing Director M M Mandal told Business Standard gas would start flowing in the first week of March next year, a month before the due date of March 31, 2006.