Government has envisaged to develop the National Gas Grid and City Gas Distribution (CGD) networks in the countryto enhance the availability and accessibility of natural gas to public at large. At present about 16,788 km natural gas pipeline is operational and about 14,239 km gas pipelines are being developed. These pipelines have been authorized by Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) and are at various stages of planning/execution/Pre-project activities etc.With the completion of 9^th CGD Bidding Round, CGD would be accessible in 178 Geographical Areas (GAs) covering approximately 280 districts spread over 26 States and UTs. 

PNGRB has reported that as per commitment given by various entities in the GAs approved for issuance of Letter of Intent (LoI) in 9^th CGD bidding round, approximately 98,000 km of pipeline will be built. Completion of 9^th round and 10^th round of CGD network will involve more than Rupees one lakh crore of investment in the CGD sector.

This information was given by Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha today.

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YKB/SK