Power ministry approves mega Rs 12,500 cr package of transmission projects

Package of new lines and substations, when commissioned, will ramp up country's transmission capacity by three-fourth

With lack of transmission infrastructure hurting electricity availability, the power ministry today approved a Rs 12,500 crore package for development of nine high capacity transmission projects.

The package of new lines and substations, when commissioned, will ramp up the country's transmission capacity by three-fourth and boost supply across five states.

"These transmission projects will benefit several states such as Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Utar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra by enabling high capacity 765 Kilovolt lines carrying up to 2,100 Megawatt each apart from construction of new 765 KV substations," the ministry said in a statement.

The nine projects had been hanging fire in the approval process for several months. With the energyminister keen to revive the ailing transmission sector, the approval to implementthe projects has been granted. The projects will be set up throughinternational competitive bidding and help evacuate power from centralgenerating stations including NTPC Ltd's 660 Mw Sipat, 1,600Mw Gadarwara and privatesector's stations like 1,320 Mw Sasan Ultra Mega Project.

The nine projects will becommissioned by 2017 helping raise the country's transmission capacity by 28,000Mw to 660,000 Mw over the next three years. Of the total expenditure, Rs 2,473crore will be spent on Sipat transmission strengthening scheme, Rs 2,360 crorewill be channelized towards Gadarwara station and Rs 2,191 crore for setting uplines in Chhattisgarh Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

Other projects that receivedthe ministry's approval include System Strengthening Schemes for northern region (Rs 88 crore), western region(Rs 823 crore), connectivity lines for Maheshwaram power plant in Hyderabad (Rs396 crore) and Rs 612 crore for Neyveli Lignite's 1,000 Mw Neyveli project inTamil Nadu.