An Indian Oil petrol station located in the state of Punjab. Credit: Sanjivkumarsharma at English Wikipedia.

India’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) has received as many as 225 bids for gas licences covering 50 cities in the latest city gas distribution (CGD) bidding round.

The CGD project is expected to attract an investment of around Rs500bn ($6.97bn) in creating the infrastructure to supply gas for 18% of India’s geographical area and 24% of its population.

PNGRB launched the tenth CGD bidding round in November last year as part of the government’s plans to shift towards a gas-based economy. Bidding for the licences closed on 5 February.

Prior to announcing the winners by the end of the month, the regulator will undertake the technical and financial evaluation of the bids.

“It is envisaged that this initiative would help create a robust infrastructure by bringing an investment of Rs500bn, generate employment and play a significant role in shifting towards a gas-based economy.”

In a statement, PNGRB said: “Once awarded, it is envisaged that this initiative would help in creating a robust infrastructure by bringing investment of about Rs500bn, generate employment and play a significant role in achieving the shift towards a gas-based economy, with natural gas as the next-generation, cheaper and environment friendly fossil fuel.”

The initiative involves establishing compressed natural gas (CNG) stations for providing CNG to automobiles and building pipelines to deliver cooking gas to households in 50 licence areas, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI).

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With the new bidding round, the CGD network is now set to expand to 400 districts in the country, ensuring gas coverage to 70% of the population.

In the previous round, 86 licences were awarded to companies to sell CNG and piped cooking gas in 174 districts in 22 states and union territories, the news agency added.

India aims to increase the share of natural gas in the primary energy basket to 15% from the existing level of 6.2%.