They ensure that they comply with all permits for the work
After residents of the San Damián neighborhood demonstrated against the installation of gas pipelines in the area, the Engie company – responsible for the project – assured that they comply with all the pertinent permits; and they announced that at the end of March Mérida will have a supply of residential natural gas.
Since last year Engie began with the residential natural gas project and provided information to the residents of the San Damián neighborhood and its surroundings. They answered all the doubts; and prior to starting them, relative data was shared, as requested, explained Juan Carlos Hernández Colunga, Engie’s development manager in Mérida.
The interviewee clarified that the company’s investment includes a gas distribution network, which can be used by residential, industrial, or commercial clients, that is, it is not an initiative aimed exclusively at the Dondé cookie maker.
Among the advantages of natural gas, he explained, safety plays a fundamental role; as well as the cost that can be up to 30 percent cheaper than the conventional service of this fuel.
He explained that “no one is obliged to connect” to said network, however, Engie offers it as one more alternative to the complicated situation that the state – and the country in general – is going through due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Currently, they have contemplated both the cookie company and other surrounding industries and businesses to be supplied with natural gas, but it is not an exclusive project for these consortia, he reiterated.
They guarantee safety
Regarding safety, Hernández Colunga explained that Engie is a company with a presence in 70 countries and is the leading supplier of natural gas in Europe. In Mexico, it has been operating for 24 years with a wide variety of services, including the distribution of natural gas.
In the country, they have 12,500 kilometers of gas distribution lines that supply 660,000 residential customers, which, he says, “are delighted” with the service. In the peninsula, he explained, since 1999 the Mayakan pipeline has operated, and to date, there have been no accidents.
“That is why we are surprised that there is doubt about the risk it represents, when the infrastructure that we have at the disposal of Mexicans, in reality, speaks of many more advantages,” he said.
Regarding the protection that the residents of San Damián allegedly filed before the federal courts, Hernández Colunga pointed out that the company has not been notified, so they continue to build the work.
“Obviously we are respectful of the law; and if they asked us to stop, we would do so, but we have state, federal, and municipal permits; with the endorsement of civil protection and the Energy Regulatory Commission, who supervise all our works ”, he added.
Natural gas in Merida at the end of March
Engie has a presence in five states of the Mexican Republic, including Yucatán, where they project investment of 400 million pesos for the next 10 years in order to deliver natural gas to industries, businesses, and residences in their capital.
“It is not something that is mandatory for anyone, we arrive as one more alternative in the market offering a 30 percent decrease in economic terms, which I think is a good saving and above all the security that this service represents,” he said.
In Mérida, he recalled, Engie started operations in September of last year; and there are already industries in the periphery that have natural gas service. In the residential part, they forecast that it will be at the end of March when the service will be available.
Initially, the San Damián, Pensiones, and surrounding neighborhoods will be the first to connect to the network; and they foresee that no later than the last week of March will be when they will have the first client under the residential scheme.
Subsequently, they will expand as the network expands, this being the “fan” that will allow it to be distributed evenly, so that, from that point on, the natural gas will reach the contiguous colonies.
Source: lajornadamaya.mx
