GSPL to enter Maharashtra, Rajasthan;invest Rs 2,500 cr on expansion

New Delhi, Nov 21 (UNI) Gujarat State Petronet Ltd (GSPL) today said it plans to lay its network in Maharashtra and Rajasthan, besides investing about Rs 2,500 crore in laying 850 km of gas pipeline by 2008.

''We are planning to expand our network in Maharashtra and Rajasthan. We will expand our pipeline network to 2,000 km from the current 1,145 km within Gujarat. The cost of laying the pipelines would be about Rs three crore crore per kilometer,'' GSPL Executive Director (Technical) P P G Sharma told reporters here on the sidelines of the Seventh Annual Conference on Gas in India: Getting Ready for New Gas.'' He added that out of the 850 km pipeline expansion, the work has already been commenced on a 300-km stretch.

GSPL, the gas transportation arm of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC), has pipeline networks till just about 50 km away from Maharashtra, Mr Sharma said.

''We are talking to companies for setting up joint ventures for retailing gas in Maharashtra and Rajasthan,'' he said without divulging further details.

UNI