Kochi-Koottanad-Bangalore-Mangalore Gas Pipeline

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor and the Center for Media and Democracy.

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The Kochi-Koottanad-Bangalore-Mangalore Gas Pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline.

Location

The pipeline will run from Kochi, Kerala to Mangalore, Karnataka.

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Project Details

• Operator: Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL)
• Parent Company: Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL)
• Current Capacity:
• Proposed capacity: 5.8 billion cubic meters per year
• Length: 686 miles / 1,104 kilometers
• Status: Construction
• Start Year: 2019

Background

The pipeline is owned and operated by Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL). The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) approved the pipeline in June 2012. In December 2016 the PNGRB issued an extension that gave GAIL until February 2019 to build the pipeline. The project aims at connecting the southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka to the national gas network.

The pipeline would be built in two phases. The first 44-km phase would connect Kochi port to the FACT fertilizer and chemical plant in Kochi. The second 1,060-km phase would go from there to Thrissur, Kotanand and Pallakad, Kerala, then to Coimbatore and Salem in Tamil Nadu before reaching Bangalore. As of March 2018, construction had begun on the first phase in Kochi with the laying of pipe along the National Highway. In June 2019 it was reported that the Kochi-Koottanad (Thrissur-Palakkad border) stretch of the pipeline had been commissioned, and that the rest of it would be commissioned by August 2019.

Opposition

Farmers and landowners along the proposed route of the pipeline have expressed concern that it would negatively impact paddy cultivation. On January 30, 2017, farmers staged a 3-hour sit-in on the Palakkad-Ottappalam-Pattambi-Ponnani State highway, and attempted to prevent the offloading of construction equipment in Thanneerkkodu, near Koottanadu. 20 protestors were arrested.

Residents have also criticized the route of the pipeline, which goes through densely populated areas, and complained about the number of people who will be displaced, including an estimated 600 families in Kozhikode, Kerala. “These proposed pipelines are 24 inches in width and the authorities say they will only have right over 10 meters surrounding the pipelines," said PP Cheriya Mohammed, a member of a a group called People's Council. Now there are areas marked for the laying of pipelines that goes between houses which are not even 5 meters apart. Isn’t this common sense? How can the authorities lay pipelines without demolishing these houses?”