Centre Launches Bidding For City Gas Distribution Network In J&K, N-E

New Delhi: The Central Government on Thursday offered CNG retailing licenses in seven areas mostly in the North East and J&K for bidding in the latest round, as the government looks to expand the reach of natural gas in the country.
Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) offered eight geographical areas (GAs) under the 12th city gas distribution (CGD) bidding round for retailing of CNG to automobiles and piping the fuel to household kitchens and industries.
The GAs put out for bidding include Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Union territory (UT) of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.
Launching the bid round, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said after this round, gas will be taken to islands which are the only uncovered areas.
Currently, there are 300 authorised GAs by PNGRB covering around 88 per cent of the country’s geographical area and 98 per cent of its population.
On successful completion, India’s entire area and population will be covered except Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.
The country currently has 1.15 crore house kitchens connected with piped natural gas. There are some 5,900 CNG stations in the country.
City gas sector consumes about 35 million standard cubic meters per day or one-fourth of all gas consumed in the country.
In the last, 11th and 11A CGD bidding round, PNGRB authorised 67 GAs for the development of the CGD network in the country.