STATES: Charotar Gas to supply piped gas to Amul chocolate plant

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from BUSINESS LINE, May 07, 2009 Ahmedabad, May 6 - The Anand-based Charotar Gas Sahakari Mandali Ltd (CGSML), India's only city gas distributor (CGD) in the cooperative sector and piped gas supplier to eight villages, has joined hands with hydrocarbon major Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd (GSPC) to enter the compressed natural gas (CNG) business and supply piped gas to Amul for its chocolate plant.

Charotar Gas is also planning to double its gas supply, sourced from GSPC, to one lakh standard cubic metres a day (scmd) in the next couple of months, according to Mr A.J. Parmar, Managing Director, told Business Line. The cooperative body has lined up an investment of Rs 10 crore for extension of gas pipeline to its new mother plant between Ahmedabad and Vadodara from where it would supply both the CNG filling station as well as the Amul chocolate plant.

Investment Charotar Gas, which had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat Government during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors' Summit (VGGIS) in January this year, has planned to invest Rs 13 crore in the next two years for expansion of its CGD and CNG business in Anand and adjoining areas such as Kheda district and outskirts of Ahmedabad district.

This work is expected to be completed by 2011.

It has also signed an MoU with Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which owns the Rs 10,000-crore brand Amul, to lay a 15-km pipeline in the next two months between villages Gaana and Chikodhara where the chocolate plant is located.

Charotar Gas, established in 1999, currently has a 65-km-long gas pipeline between Bavla in Ahmedabad district and Anand.

Charotar Gas, which serves 10,000 domestic, 100 industrial and 250 commercial customers through its 100-km-long pipeline, would be initially supplying 10,000 scmd of gas to Amul, later increasing it to 25,000 scmd.

The cooperative body has an annual turnover of Rs 30 crore.

The first CNG filling station will be at Chikodhara, on the National Highway 8, between Ahmedabad and Vadodara.

Two more CNG stations are being planned for Borsad and Khambhat towns, he said.

Charotar Gas is the only entity registered under the Cooperative Act to be permitted by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) to bid for CGS business.

Virendra Pandit Copyright 2009 Business Line