The Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate the Rs. 3,000 crore Kochi - Mangaluru Natural Gas Pipeline to the nation today via video conferencing.

Governors and Chief Ministers of Karnataka and Kerala, along with Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas will also be present on the occasion.

The 450 km long pipeline has been built by GAIL (India) Ltd. and it has a transportation capacity of 12 Million Metric Standard Cubic Metres per day. The pipeline will carry natural gas from the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Regasification Terminal at Kochi (Kerala) to Mangaluru (Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka), while passing through Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod districts.

The total cost of the project is Rs. 3,000 crore and its construction created over 12 lakh man days of employment. Laying of the pipeline was an engineering challenge as the route of the pipeline necessitated it to cross water bodies at more than 100 locations. This was done through a special technique called Horizontal Directional Drilling method.

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.