A gas pipeline from Barauni to Guwahati will connect the North East Gas Grid to the National Gas Grid. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board authorised the work of the 1,656-km NE Natural Gas Pipeline Grid to Indradhanush Gas Grid Ltd.
The North East Gas Grid (NEGG) Project has achieved the completion of a 50.17 percent target incurring an expenditure of INR 2236.97 crore. This includes Viability Gas Funding (VGF) of INR 1,030-crore. As published in a leading Assamese (remove) newspaper – the scheduled completion target of the project is March 2024.
As per the annual report from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, a trunk gas pipeline from Barauni to Guwahati will connect NE Gas Grid to the National Gas Grid. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has authorised the work of the 1,656-km-long NE Natural Gas Pipeline Grid to Indradhanush Gas Grid Ltd. Indradhanush Gas Grid Ltd. (IGGL) is a joint venture company of IOCL, ONGC, GAIL, OIL, and NRL.
The government established IGGL on August 10, 2018, towards implementing the Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 for Northeast India, released by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in 2016. Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 envisages Northeast economic development by leveraging its hydrocarbon potential, enhancing access to clean fuel and accelerating growth.
The Ministry took up the NEGG project connecting all the northeastern states to the National Gas Grid through the Barauni-Guwahati natural gas pipeline as a part of the “Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga” Scheme.
The NEGG Project runs through: twelve districts of Assam, one district of Arunachal Pradesh, two districts of Manipur, four districts of Meghalaya, two districts of Mizoram, two districts of Nagaland, two districts of Sikkim, seven districts of Tripura, and two districts of West Bengal.
In addition, the PNGRB has authorised seven geographical areas for the city gas distribution (CGD) network in Assam. Till May 2022, the authorised CGD entities have laid a 7,721-inch km steel pipeline and 11,757-inch km of medium density polyethylene pipe (MDPE) pipeline in their geographical areas for PNG connections and establishing CNG stations.
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The project is being implemented in three phases:
Phase-I: Sections with plain agricultural terrain and no EC requirement (Guwahati, Numaligarh, Itanagar, Dergaon /Jorhat, Dimapur)
Phase-II: Section in hilly terrain and having requirement of EC (Shillong, Silchar, Panisagar, Banaskandi, Agartala, Aizawl)
Phase-III: Sections in hilly terrain, the requirement of EC and feasibility of laying pipeline linked to highway width widening (Dimapur, Kohima, Imphal)
