Al Ngullie
DIMAPUR, MAY 20
THE Government of India is planning to build over 4,000 kilometers of transmission and distribution lines in a span of 48 months in the North Eastern region of the country. The project will cover the states of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland with a projected cost of a colossal Rs. 4,923.32 crore ($911 million).
The Minister of Power has submitted this month the Draft Expenditure Finance Committee memorandum outlining the project for the six states. The government document was made available to this reporter Monday, May 19.
The proposal is the ‘NER Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP) for the 6 states to strengthening their intra-state transmission and distribution system, the government stated. The project is scheduled to be commissioned “progressively” within 48 months from the date of release of the first installment of funds by the government of India. The breakup of the funds: Assam (Rs. 1443.67 crore), Meghalaya (Rs. 733.56 crore), Manipur (Rs. 404.17 crore), Tripura (Rs. 1258.72 crore), Nagaland (Rs. 695.30 crore), and Mizoram (Rs. 298.90 crore). Rs. 89 crore has also been set aside for capacity-building.
The plan is to construct 33 new substations holding 220 and 132 kVs. Likewise, 84 distribution substations up to 33 kV are also planned for the region. The World Bank will fund 50% of the project cost. The balance 50% of the cost will be financed by the Government of India through the Ministry of Power`s budget. The project will be implemented by Power Grid Corporation.
According to the committee’s recommendations, the project belongs to category (b) “New Plan Scheme included in the current Plan period (2012-17).” In-principle approval of the Planning Commission of India for the funding has been received. Accordingly, the project was posed to World Bank.
The report states that the present scheme has been conceived in order to reduce the gap between the requirement and availability of the intra-state Transmission/Sub-transmission and distribution (33kV and above) system.
Out of the requirement, the intra-state transmission, sub-transmission and distribution system (33kV and above) has been considered under the present proposal to be implemented with The World Bank’s assistance under Tranche-I out of three tranches (US $ 500 Million each) envisaged to fulfill the planned need. (See graph image)
“The present scheme is a major step towards meeting the national objectives like power to all, especially in the backward NE region for inclusive growth, through enhancement in access of consumers to Grid connected power supply, its availability, adequacy, reliability and affordability,” the committee stated. “This shall also help in bringing the per capita power consumption of these States closer to National average. The proposed Intra-state transmission / sub-transmission system has been planned for absorption of power from the overlying regional grid and its dispersal to different parts of the State, while the downstream Distribution System would disperse power to the ultimate consumer.”
The proposal is to implement through Central Implementing Agency, PGCIL. PGCIL has implemented a large number of transmission, sub transmission and distribution systems in various parts of the country including the NER States.
“The project shall be owned by the state governments of the six NER States viz. Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram and Nagaland and the O&M of the system shall be carried out by them at their own cost upon progressive commissioning and handing over of the same to the concerned state authorities,” the committee states in its submission.
