There was welcome consensus on the urgency to make use of the large production of natural gas from the KG Basin. As gas cannot be stored, it is necessary for user industries to be ready with their plans to consume the gas offered. Southern states should come out with clear plans on realistic estimates of the need and on their capacity to use the gas when offered.
Gujarat provides the best example of advanced preparation: Torrent Power set up a 1340 MW gas-based power plant and got it ready for commissioning a couple of months back. Quite a number of NTPC plants have been built with the ability to use gas. Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, the AP chief minister, who died in a helicopter crash, had prepared the state for making good use of natural gas. Andhra has great potential to emerge as another Gujarat in the matter of utilization of gas. One can expect large capacity fertilizer, power and petrochemical plants to be set up in quick time, apart from wide use of gas for transportation and piped gas supply for several towns.

Reliance has demonstrated the ability to construct a 1382 km pipeline from Kakinada to Baruch that has enabled the company put to full use the large volume of gas produced by it. The pipeline was constructed by Chinese workers in just about a year.

Why then RGTIL would need two years for constructing the 440 km pipeline to Chennai and another year to take it to Tuticorin when MFL, CPCL and SPIC are hungry and thirsty for gas? Mukesh Ambani met TN chief minister M Karunanidhi more than two years ago and assured him of Reliance's interest in constructing the gas pipeline in quick time. But little progress has been made in this so far.

TN chief secretary K S Sripathi said that the pipelines can be laid along the national and state highway systems without much hassles of land acquisition. He also referred to the preparedness of the state government to extend all needed support.

GAIL can also compress the construction time...

Likewise the largest owner of pipelines in the country, GAIL, which operates over 7000 km of gas pipelines, has a lot of expertise in constructing and operating these. It should be possible, with policy support from the state governments and Centre, to compress the time needed for the construction of pipelines and deliver gas in quick time.

Funding should not be a constraint, with all the focus by the Centre on infrastructure development. I suggest a consortium of industries from the south from different sectors to come together to look into the prospects for laying spur lines and for city gas distribution, CNG for transport…

There is need for better involvement of business leaders, the media, political leadership, and policymakers to come together to switch to gas for a variety of uses. If a single industrial unit of Saint Gobain can add Rs. 100 crore to its profits, business has much to gain by switching to gas. As pointed by SK Swamy, there is lack of aggressiveness. I also notice in the southern business leaders a contentment to stick to knitting, to focus on existing areas and for modest, linear growth. This despite their interest in listening to management gurus like C K Prahlad to go for disruptive growth through out-of-the-box ideas. The south has very large construction companies deeply involved in infrastructure like L&T-ECC, GVK, GMR… Looking at the wealth of our MPs and MLAs, and the flourish of the business they are engaged in, especially related to real estate and education, there shouldn't be any difficulty in mobilising and investing large amounts.

But user industries must be ready…

There is need for clarity on assured availability and pricing. While there is tremendous hope on availability of over 300 mmscmd over the next couple of years and for augmenting this through large scale imports to handle which rich infrastructure has been created, pricing assumes importance. The present expensive legal dispute among the government and the Ambani brothers before the Supreme Court, has been the result of lack of attention to clear cut policy. The Babudom doesn't seem to be quite prepared for the massiveness and the intricacies of the tasks involved.

Need for strong regulatory authority

There is also a need for a strong,truly independent regulatory authority to act in a fair manner and protect the interests of the producer, the distributor and the consumer.

The huge availability of gas will help the country catch up with the developed countries in much quicker time; look at the enormous savings in the import bill presently made on purchasing over 70 per cent of the needs of petroleum crude.

A matter of surprise is the disconnect between the states' leadership and the petroleum ministry which had at its helm senior civil servants from this region - G V Ramakrishna, Vijayaraghavan, S Narayan, M S Srinivasan, and S Sundareshan. Unlike at the time of Col S P Wahi in the 1980s, leadership at ONGC, GAIL and other oil majors have also been Delhi-centric being content to be close to their political masters. I remember the frequent and close interactions Col Wahi and his senior officials had with media and policymakers in the states that helped in the quick development of the oil sector. Remember the last time you had heard on this subject by any of the leaders in the field in the south including the Minister/Secretary of the ministry?

Recent hopes on the economy bouncing back to an 8 per cent plus growth can be sustained and improved upon by the focus on assured availability of energy at modest prices. Developed countries in the west and Japan built their prosperity on this. China has been doing this effectively. India is just on the threshold of it. The south, with its much better record in education, health and other social indices, should grasp in full measure the God-given boon of copious availability of gas.