GAIL to invest Rs 3000cr in HBJ expansion

new delhi: gas authority of india announced on friday an investment of rs 3,000 crore for expansion of hbj pipeline enabling transmission and marketing of regasified lng, planned to be brought at dahej by petronet lng, and laying optical fibre for its telecom project. this was approved by the board of directors of gail at its last meeting held here, a company statement said, adding that work would shortly commence on both projects.the hbj pipeline expansion project involves laying 610 km of pipeline from dahej in gujarat to vijaipur in madhya pradesh at an estimated expenditure of rs 2,936 crore. gail would lift 20 million standard cubic metres per day of the regasified lng for transmission and distribution through the pipeline system in the states of gujarat and mp. with the expansion of this project, the total gas handling capacity of the hbj pipeline system would go up from the current level of 33 mmscmd to around 60 mmscmd. the project is scheduled for mechanical completion by december 2003, gail said. in the telecom area, gail is set to expand its broadband network to cover 7,300 km, interconnecting 60 cities in northern, western and central india.