Sabarmati Gas prepares for Patan gas conquest
Known for its fine hand-woven saris, the north Gujarat district of Patan, with its population of 1.3m, will soon have a retail gas network set up by Sabarmati Gas.
A GSPC Group company, Sabarmati has traditionally operated in Mehsana, Sabarkantha and Gandhinagar districts but is now looking forward to expanding into new territory. Sabarmati received PNGRB authorisation for the 5846-sq km Patan area on May 27, which it won under the sixth retail gas licencing round by quoting a bank guarantee of Rs7.6cr ($1m) when bids were opened on April 1, defeating sister company Gujarat Gas.
A performance bank guarantee of Rs42.6cr ($6.4m) for Patan was later deposited with the PNGRB. Sabarmati must now lay 1800-inch km of steel pipeline and provide piped gas connections to 13,382 homes within five years.
In the first year Sabarmati must lay 360-inch km; in each of the second and third years it must lay 540-inch km; and in each of the fourth and fifth years it must lay 180-inch km. Similarly in the first two years it must connect 2007 homes, in year-three it must connect 4684 homes, in year-four it must connect 2676 homes and in the fifth year it must connect 4015 homes.
Sabarmati estimates that the district, which has nearly 220,000 households, has a gas demand of 430,000 cm/d.
