Power shortage plagues

While the performance of the Manmohan Singh government in the power sector has been dismal "" just about 50 per cent of the targeted 41,000 Mw was added in the 10th Plan period "" it can take credit for prying open the nuclear door for India.

Though there seem to be last minute hiccups in the India-US nuclear cooperation deal, which would give India access to US nuclear technology and fuel for the first time in 30 years, it clearly caps everything else that the government has managed in the energy sector.

There was the plan to set up the country's largest power plants "" the 4,000 Mw ultra mega power plants "" across nine cities in the country but only one at Mundra in Gujarat has managed to get off the ground so far. 

The Good...	...and the Bad
India, US agree to cooperate in civilian nuclear technology (read nuclear power generation)...	...though there seem to be last- minute hiccups in the deal
Capacity addition of 21,000 Mw in power generation in 10th plan (2002-07)...	...though this was just about half the targeted addition of 41,000 Mw peak energy shortage currently at a decade-high of 14 per cent
Plan to set up 4,000 Mw ultra mega power plants across nine cities, with the projects to be awarded on a competitive bidding basis...	...though only one at Mundra in Gujarat "" bagged by Tata Power "" is off the ground
Acquisition of oil and gas blocks in countries like Vietnam, Nigeria, Cuba, Gabon and Timor...	...though some of these investments would be considered "high-risk"
Sixth round of auction of oil and gas blocks (under NELP VI) completed successfully...	...though after a standoff between the upstream regulator (DGH) and the government over award of blocks to ONGC, given its past exploration record. The next round (NELP VII) stands delayed
Petroleum Regulatory Board Act enacted and passed...	...though the chairman for this body has been finalised only recently, after a year of notification of the Act
Consumer protected from high crude oil prices...	...though the country is back to administered pricing of fuel with little room for private players
Allocation of coal blocks for captive mining streamlined, production from such blocks tripled over the three-year period to 17 million tonnes...	...though competitive bidding for captive coal blocks yet to kick off

Critics say the government would have done better by focusing incentives on smaller-sized plants since "not many companies have the ability and willingness to invest Rs 16,000 crore or more required for each ultra mega project."

The government, however, gets some points for unlocking some of the coal resources of the country. It put in place a somewhat scientific criteria for allocation of coal blocks to the private sector for captive mining. This replaced an archaic first-come-first-serve basis of allocation and absence of any norms for deallocation. In fact, production from captive blocks is projected at 29 million tonnes by March 2008, which would be about five times the production when this government came into power.

As for the oil and gas sector, there were no major initiatives during the period unless the government takes credit for ensuring no disruption to work-in-progress. The record was, however, marred by the very public spat between the minister (Mani Shankar Aiyar) and Subir Raha, the chairman of the country's largest oil exploration and production company "" the Rs 50,000 crore Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)-owned by the government.

One critical weak point of the government has been its inability, (some say laxity) in filling up key posts in the energy sector.

These include the post of chairman of ONGC, chairman of the Petroleum Regulatory Board and chairman of the Central Electricity Regulatory Authority, among others.