Opposition urges state to pull up AES

Demands system upgrade to tide over low voltage.

The Opposition has urged the state government to pull up AES Corporation for inordinate delay in commissioning of the third and fourth units of the Ib Valley power project of Orissa Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) where it is 49 per cent stake holder.

The opposition members in the state Assembly also accused the US-based power utility of irregularities in preparation of the detailed project report (DPR) of the OPGC expansion project.

Besides, the Opposition slammed the state government for not taking adequate steps for system upgradation to tide over the problems of low voltage and power disruptions.

“The state government needs to initiate stringent action against AES Corporation for its failure to commission the two units of the Ib Valley Thermal Power Station. AES has conducted irregularities in the preparation of DPR and it seems that the company is not serious in commissioning the two units”, Congress MLA Anup Sai said during the adjournment motion in the state Assembly today.

The third and fourth units of the Ib Valley plant of OPGC, a joint venture between AES and the Orissa government, would have a capacity of 1320 MW (2x660).

Commenting on the problems of low voltage and power cuts, Sai said, “The state government has failed to provide uninterrupted supply of power at normal voltage to the consumers. The government has not made any effort towards system upgradation and the distribution utilities failed in their duties in this regard. The state government has failed to arrest power theft”.

Bhupinder Singh, leader of the Opposition said, “There have been no efforts to curb the high AT&C (Aggregate Technical and Commercial) loss in the state.” Senior BJP leader K V Singh Deo said, “From 2000 to 2009, no power plant was operationalized in the state. Moreover, the state is not going to be a power surplus state even after signing MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) with 27 Independent Power producers. This is because the state government has not entered into legally bound agreements with the IPPs to ensure that the state gets its quota of power.”

To reduce Transmission and Distribution (T&D) loss in urban areas, he suggested that the state government should go for underground cabling. Stating that the assets of the four distribution utilities are locked up with Grid Corporation of Orissa (Gridco), Singh Deo said, the distribution companies will not be able to invest on system upgradation unless these assets are not released.

Responding on this issue, state energy minister, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, said, “An inter-ministerial committee has been constituted to look into the case of locked assets of the distribution utilites with Gridco and a decision will be taken soon.”