PUNE, January 30: The ongoing construction of the national grid of pipelines is believed to be a step in the right direction towards achieving decongestion on the rail and road networks. The network of pipelines carrying petroleum products will ensure a lower dependence on the already busy highways, which can be optimally utilised for transportation of perishable commodities, it was stressed.Transportation costs through pipelines work out to be at least 16 times cheaper than road transport and about five times cheaper than rail transport, it is believed. This mode of carrying petroleum products would also ensure considerable reduction in pollution and congestion along the highways, said SN Jha, director-pipelines, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
Speaking at a two-day seminar on "Piping engineering and construction" at the Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT), Jha said this national grid network, a major exercise in cost reduction, must be completed on a priority basis to reduce congestion on the roadand railway network.
The pipeline grid, consisting of the Wadinar-Kandla, Mangalore-Bangalore and Kochin-Karur pipelines, is currently under implementation.
The Wadinar-Kandla project, for which IOC is the lead company, is likely to be completed by December 1999, Jha said. IOC's immediate plans included laying branch pipelines, that is, the Panipat-Mathura, Panipat-Saharanpur and the Mathura-Tundla pipelines, he added. Michael Thiemann, managing director, UHDE India Ltd, reviewed various technological developments in the piping engineering and plant construction industry. Delivering the keynote address on "Piping engineering and construction," he emphasised the role of piping in the complexity of a modern chemical production facility. He added that the factors for success in the $40-billion worldwide piping engineering industry would require "providing correct and elegant technical solutions with minimum costs."
The three-day seminar includes technical paper presentations and an exhibition.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
