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| OPTCL to invest Rs 2,000 crore in 3 years |
| BS Reporter / Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar Dec 19, 2009, 00:28 IST |
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The Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL) will execute projects worth Rs 2,000 crore for improvement of the power infrastructure in the state on a priority basis.
The money will be spent in next three years and the corporation has been asked to prepare detailed plans for such investments.
The consultants of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (PGCIL) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) may be roped in for preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) for such works.
Various options of raising funds like REC and Power Finance Corporation (PFC) will be explored. Besides, the corporation will explore the possibility of adopting the public-private-partnership (PPP) model for investment in the transmission sector as devised by the Planning Commission (PC). The state of power infrastructure in the state was reviewed in a high level meeting chaired by the chief minister Naveen Patnaik today.
Talking to media after the meeting, the state energy minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said, various issues pertaining to the transmission and distribution sector were deliberated. OPTCL was asked to expedite the implementation of the pending projects.
Energy secretary, Pradeep Kumar Jena, said, the state government has sought Rs 5,000 crore from the Thirteenth Finance Commission (TFC) for improvement of the distribution and transmission infrastructure in the state. This includes Rs 3,200 crore for distribution and Rs 1,800 crore transmission.
The government will take a concrete view about providing assistance for the upgradation work to be taken up by the private distribution companies after the TFC indicates the quantum and modality of assistance. On the issue of the state government investing in the private power distribution companies as suggested by the Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC), the energy secretary said, the government role is limited after the un-bundling of the power sector.
However, the state government will facilitate them in raising loans for investing in the system improvement. The government is also exploring the possibility of involving Gridco in some way to assist the power distribution companies which they will have to repay.
He admitted that the private power distribution companies in the state have not been able to bring in money for system upgradation despite increase in the monthly billing. While the cumulative loss of the four distribution companies in the state was Rs 2,740 crore by end of last fiscal, it is likely to increase to Rs 3,000 crore by end of 2009-10.
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