BHUBANESWAR: City gas distribution (CGD) project, piped gas distribution network of the ministry of petroleum and natural gas , will cover 85 per cent of population of the state. It will provide gas services to 17 districts of the state through pipeline.Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan said this while attending the 9th CGD bidding round roadshow here. The roadshow was organised by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) here to attract investors for the project. Such roadshows have been organised in New Delhi recently.Pradhan said PNGRB has identified seven geographical areas covering 17 districts of the state for the Ninth Bidding Round for the investors. These include, Angul, Dhenkanal, Sundargarh, Jharsuguda Balasore, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj, Bargarh, Deogarh, Sambalpur, Gnajam, Nayagarh, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Jajpur and Keonjhar. “Almost half of Odisha will come under the CGD project. It will not only reduce pollution, but also create employment opportunities,” he added.Pradhan said two synthetic natural gas (SNG) projects will come up at Talcher and Paradip. In these projects, gas will be produced from coal. While Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) will set up the project at Talcher, IOCL’s project will come up at Paradip, he added. D K Sarraf , chairperson of PNGRB, said around Rs 7,000 crore will be invested for the gas projects in the state including CGD. It will create thousands of direct and indirect employment. The construction of LNG terminal at Dhamra in Bhadrak district with an investment of Rs 6000 crore will convert liquid gases imported from USA, Australia and Qatar into gaseous form and supply through the pipelines. The pipeline work has also been started in the state under Urja Ganga Project, he added.Besides, the ministry is planning to extend the Kakinada-Srikakulam gas pipeline to Angul in Odisha. It will cover several left-out areas in the CGD project. “We are also planning to have another gas project at Gopalpur in Ganjam district. Details on the projects will come soon,” said Sarraf.The City Gas Distribution (CGD) project in the state is implemented by the GAIL (India) Limited, a government-owned natural gas transmission company. City’s like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai have these facilities before.