Greater Kolkata to get 10 additional CNG stations by March 2023, bringing total to 15 stations

Kolkata: By the end of March 2023, the Greater Kolkata region will have an additional 10 CNG stations, bringing the total to 15. By that time, there will be 73 CNG stations operating throughout the state after the opening of 42 new ones. This information was revealed on Tuesday during a stakeholder conference on CNG and city gas distribution that HPCL hosted.

P K Biswas, Bengal Gas' head of operations and marketing, noted that the company now has seven CNG outlets in its Greater Kolkata command area, which includes the entire KMC area, North 24 Parganas up to Barasat, New Town and Budge Budge in South 24 Parganas, as well as some areas of the neighbouring Hooghly.

In addition, Bengal Gas is a joint venture between Greater Calcutta Gas Supply and Gail for the distribution of CNG and city gas in Kolkata and surrounding regions. Additionally, the organisation has added piped gas (PNG) to a few apartment buildings in the city, notably Urbana.

According to Biswas, it is now transporting CNG to Kolkata by way of tankers. He believes it will be challenging to significantly expand CNG networks unless gas is delivered to the city through pipeline.

"Unless the pipeline is on the outskirts of the city, it would be difficult to achieve our target of having 130 CNG stations in five years in Greater Kolkata," he added.

In the most recent round of bidding, HPCL also acquired Malda, South Dinajpur, Birbhum, and Murshidabad. In its command area, it aims to build 400 CNG stations over the next five to six years. Additionally, HPCL has a goal for PNG connectivity throughout several districts. HPCL estimates that about Rs 5,500 crore would be invested overall over the next five years.