Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated a natural gas pipeline from Kochi in Kerala to Mangaluru in Karnataka and said the project will spur economic growth in the two southern states.

“This is an important day for India, especially for the people of Kerala and Karnataka. The gas pipeline will facilitate the ease of living for lakhs of people in both the states and also give a boost to the tourism sector, he added.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement that the 450 km long pipeline built by public sector natural gas giant GAIL (India) Ltd marks an important milestone towards the creation of a “One Nation One Gas Grid”. The Rs 3,000-crore project, which will carry natural gas from the liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal at
Kochi to Mangaluru, while passing through Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod districts, has the transportation capacity of 12 million metric standard cubic metres per day, the statement added.

The PMO said over 1.2 million man-days of employment was generated during the construction of the pipeline. The pipeline will supply environment-friendly and affordable fuel in the form of piped natural gas (PNG) to households and compressed natural gas (CNG) to the transportation sector. It will also supply natural gas to commercial and industrial units across the districts along the pipeline, PMO said. Consumption of cleaner fuel will help in improving air quality by curbing air pollution.
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