The project is part of the company’s eleventh five-year plan to expand its pipeline network.

GAIL has earmarked a total of $US6.3 billion for the five-year period and intends to lay 1,000 km of natural gas pipelines across the country during 2010–11.

GAIL Chairman and Managing Director B C Tripathi said “Currently over 1,500 km of pipelines are under construction in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab and some other states...We have a target to lay 1,000–1,500 km of pipelines every year.”

GAIL currently owns and operates approximately 7,200 km of pipelines.