A vital 891-km gas pipeline project which will benefit three southern states but is delayed by 13 years, and has seen its cost double, was highlighted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a PRAGATI review meeting on Wednesday, News18 has learnt.
Long-delayed projects have been the focus of the PM, with him voicing his concern in several meetings. A report in January said that various delayed central infrastructure projects will cause a cost escalation of nearly Rs 3.2 lakh crore.
Government sources said two such pending projects taken up at the PRAGATI review meeting by the Prime Minister on Wednesday exemplified the issue.
One was the Kochi-Koottanad-Bengaluru-Mangaluru Pipeline Phase-2 project which will move the liquified natural gas from the Kochi LNG terminal and transport and distribute the regasified LNG to consumers in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. The vital project will be connecting these three southern states with the national gas grid of GAIL.
However, this project, which was sanctioned in 2007 and was scheduled to be completed in 2012 has been now delayed till 2025. Its revised completion date till last year was September 2022 but the PM was informed at the PRAGATI meeting that the likely completion was now February 2025. The physical progress on the project so far is only 65 per cent, with only 579 km of the 891-km pipeline being commissioned so far. Further, its cost has doubled from a sanctioned cost of Rs 2,918 crore to Rs 5,909 crore now.
The main problem in the project remains in the state of Tamil Nadu which has to submit a revised pipeline route and land acquisition plus forest clearances are pending. A source said this raised the concern of the PM as the project is not only expected to meet the energy needs of domestic but also industrial and transport sectors. The Prime Minister is said to have asked the cabinet secretary to help resolve the issues between the Tamil Nadu government and the ministry of petroleum and natural gas.
The other project whose inordinate delay of nearly 25 years was flagged before the PM was the Lalitpur-Singrauli new railway line in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, which will span 541 km and was sanctioned way back in 1997. The rail line has been built from Lalitpur to Khajuraho over 229 km but is incomplete beyond that. The main objective of this line was to open the door for the development of the backward region of Bundelkhand and Vindhya in UP and MP and provide an alternative route for Singrauli coal mines and cement factories to other parts of India.
The Prime Minister asked ministries to use the PM Gatishakti portal for the planning of infrastructure projects and expeditious resolution of issues, stressing on the timely completion of projects in India.
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