Govt incentive to power firms to set up training centres

The government is likely to allow power producers to include in the total project cost the expenditure on setting up industrial training institutes to meet the shortage of skilled manpower for the sector.

The Central Electricity Authority (CEC) had recommended this to the government. Under the current rules, a developer has no incentive for setting up such institutions.

“Considering the shortage of manpower in the power sector, especially for operation and maintenance, the government may soon allow power producers to include cost of developing industrial training infrastructure in the project cost,” CEC Chairman Rakesh Nath said.

As the developers get return on the basis of project costs, the inclusion of training institutes in the total cost would encourage them to set up such centres.

“We have already made recommendations to the government in this regard and a decision is awaited,” Nath said.

Planning Commission estimates show that a trained manpower of about 800,000 would be required during the Eleventh plan (2007-12) for the power sector. But, Nath said, the recent estimates indicate that one million people would be required for the sector in the current Plan.

Asked whether the government move would escalate the project cost, Nath said: “There would be a marginal change. It would be less than half a per cent of the total cost of the power project in many cases.” Nath thinks this would help people living near a power project to get industrial training and suitable employment.

The grudge of the local population very often is that their land is acquired for developing a power project and outsiders get the jobs. And that happens because the locals are not skilled enough for those jobs.

Now such institutes, when set up, would help local people find good jobs near their homes and reduce tensions over land acquisitions for such projects, Nath added.

Under the Eleventh Plan, the Planning Commission has emphasised the importance of setting up infrastructure for technical training for the power sector.

It was estimated that overall Man/Mw ratio in the power sector, which was 9.42 at the end of Ninth Plan (March, 2002) would go down to 7 by the end of Tenth Plan (March, 2007). The ratio would further go down to 5.82 at the end of Eleventh plan (March 2012) due to massive mechanisation.

These estimates clearly indicate that there is an urgent need of technically sound professionals for managing and running power projects in the country, Nath said.