Rs 1,10,000 crore investment in UP power sector by 2016-17

Power shortage has often been citied as the main impediment towards faster economic growth in the state

Investments to the tune of Rs 1,10,000 crore is projected to flow into the energy sector in Uttar Pradesh by 2016-17.

The investment would come from the public and private sector and joint venture projects in areas of power generation, transmission and distribution.

The Akhilesh Yadav government has accorded due emphasis to power as it is the bedrock of any economic development. Power shortage has often been cited as the main impediment towards faster economic growth in the state.

Power generation projects would take larger share of about Rs 65,000 crore investment in different projects, state Principal Secretary (energy) Sanjay Agarwal had said last week.

The state government is targeting to ramp up power availability to over 20,000 megawatt (Mw) by 2016-17 from the current level of 10,000 Mw from all sources.

Besides, transmission projects would entail investment of about Rs 22,500 crore. Much of this investment would flow towards setting up new sub-stations to increase capacity.

Power distribution projects would get total investment of about Rs 9,100 crore, while rural electrification projects would receive about Rs 12,500 crore.

“The government is keen on improving energy sector infrastructure and providing uninterrupted power supply. The three-time hike in the power sector budgetary support to Rs 28,000 crore is a testimony to this fact,” Uttar Pradesh Minister of State for Energy Yasar Shah said.

Besides low power availability, the state is also grappling with high aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses of 42 per cent. The state targets to tame this figure to five per cent by 2017.

AT&C losses are sum of technical loss, commercial loss and shortage due to non-realisation of total billed amount. It includes power theft and losses during transmission and distribution.