NEW DELHI-Gas Pipeline Shape of Things to Come

NEW DELHI Gas Pipeline: Shape of Things to Come BM THE government's decision abruptly to reverse its earlier arrangements for the construction of the Rs 1,700 crore Hazira- Bijapur-Jagdishpur gas pipeline project and call for fresh global tenders for construction under turnkey arrangements has not come as too much of a surprise. It falls in line with a series of similar decisions taken over the years in the case of large projects in a variety of areas from steel to fertilisers. Something very similar happened way back in the sixties in regard to the construction of Bokaro steel plant. The decision in the seventies, against the advice of Indian experts, to scale up the size of gas-based ammonia plants to 1,350 tonne per day capacity and invite foreign firms to undertake their construction on turnkey basis is another notable case in point.