Guwahati : The centre will give ten new buses to the Assam government which would be run by methanol as a pilot project for public transportation for which Assam Petrochemicals Limited (APL) will supply methanol for the new buses.
Minister of Road Transport, Highways & Shipping and Water Resources Nitin Gadkari informed it during a review meeting on implementing methanol economy held at Transport Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday in presence of Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ananth Kumar, Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Anand Geete, Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises and Assam Industries and Commerce Minister, Chandra Mohan Patowary.
The meeting discussed ways and measures to increase the production of methanol in the country and thereby creating a methanol economy as an alternative to high cost petroleum products like diesel and petrol.
Presently, Assam Petrochemicals Limited (APL) is a State PSU which is one of the very few units producing methanol in India.
Gadkari, who chaired the meeting further announced that Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) will create petroleum fuel bunks along the River Brahmaputra and the national waterways by which Inland Water Transport (IWT) vessels can operate on methanol supplied by APL.
Assam minister Chandra Mohan Patowary strongly supported the extension of
methanol production and asked for enhancement of gas allocation for APL.
He also requested Dharmendra Pradhan to increase the production of natural gas for Assam with special reference to ONGC.
It is also noteworthy to inform that APL is presently implementing a project for enhancing production of methanol from 125 ton per day to 500 ton per day.
(By Hemanta Kumar Nath, Guwahati)
