Gridco's outstanding at Rs 3,111cr

The total outstanding of the state owned Grid Corporation of Orissa Ltd (Gridco) reached Rs 3,111.19 crore by the end of 2008-09.

The outstanding of Gridco, which was Rs 1,755.5 crore in 1996, had jumped to Rs 3,731.92 crore on 1 April 1999 when power distribution was privatised.

The high outstanding of Gridco is attributed to investments made by the company for improvement of transmission and distribution in the interim period following the separation of transmission from Gridco and payments for the power purchased from the generators.

On the other hand, the outstanding of the power distribution companies towards Gridco also reached Rs 680.55 crore as on 31 March 2009, state energy minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said.

The minister said, Gridco has moved the Company Law Board (CLB), Kolkata for collection of outstandings. The petition filed by Gridco before CLB, principal bench, New Delhi includes a prayer for a direction to the distribution companies to rectify the arbitrary and unilateral adjustments passed in their accounts showing the bonds as being fully paid. The case is pending for disposal, he added.

About the investment made by the power distribution companies in Orissa, he said, Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU), Nesco, Wesco and Southco invested about Rs 625.75 crore on system improvement and maintenance from 1999-2000 to 2008-09.This included Rs 281.66 crore invested by CESU and combined investment of Rs 345.09 crore by Nesco, Wesco and Southco.

He said, the power distribution in the state is dependent on power transmission and the state government has decided to infuse Rs 100 crore in Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (OPTCL) to improve power transmission system.

Out of it, the government provided Rs 23.05 crore in the last fiscal and Rs 5 crore has been provided in this year’s budget. OPTCL is also sourcing loans from various financial institutions to invest in the transmission sector. The distribution companies are putting up new sub-stations and changing wire and transformers to improve distribution in the state.

Nayak said, eleven projects were implemented by OPTCL during 2008-09 and 2009-10. This included Rs 39.2 crore Kuchei-Balasore 220 kv line with bay extension at Balasore, second 20 MVA transformer at Balimela at a cost of Rs 16.09 crore, 2x315 MVA 400/220/33 KV substation at Mendhasala at a cost of Rs 59.64 crore.  Similarly, the 220 KV Ib-Budhipadar third circuit with bay extension at a cost of Rs 15.22 crore, 220 KV Duburi-Paradeep D C line and 2x100 MVA substation at Paradeep were taken up with an investment of Rs 70.21 crore during this period.

Two transmission projects namely 2x12.5MVA 1132/33/KV substation at Karanjia at a cost of Rs 24.2 crore  and 2x20 MVA transformers with line at Phulnakhara at a cost of Rs 17.29 crore were commissioned this month. Besides, OPTCL plans to execute 20 new transmission projects in different parts of the state in the coming months, he added.