With an objective to provide round-the-clock quality and reliable power to the general consumers and farmers in agriculture and fishery sectors as well as to reduce the aggregate technical and commercial loss, the State Government in principle approved the State funded Rs 3,600 crore power transmission project to be implemented by the end of the 12th Five year Plan period.
As promised in the current year’s Budget, the State Cabinet which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday approved the proposal of the Energy Department to set up “dedicated feeder for agriculture and fisheries sector” to be implemented at an estimated cost of Rs 1,000 crore. Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Chief Secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra said that the Cabinet cleared only two proposals concerning the Energy Department to provide quality and uninterrupted power to the people as well as the farm sector. The step would also help reducing the Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) loss in the energy sector by 3 per cent and save an estimated Rs 255 crore per annum on commissioning of the projects . At present the AT&C loss is around 41 per cent and the State Government is planning to reduced it to 15 per cent by strengthening the distribution network, he said, and added that with reduction of every one per cent loss, the State would save Rs 85 crore per annum.
Giving details of the two decisions, Mohapatra said that in order to upgrade the existing power distribution backbone infrastructure in the wake of the failure of the DISCOMs and to meet the growing demand for power due to massive rural and urban electrification programmes, the Cabinet approved the proposal of the Energy Department for construction of new 520 33/11 KV Grid Sub-Stations along with associated 33 KV lines and 11 KV feeders in the State. The 33/11 KV Grid Sub-stations would be set up over a period of three years with an estimated project cost of Rs 2,600 crore, including Rs 200 crore in the budget for 2013-14 fiscal, he said.
Energy Secretary PK Jena said that the project would be implemented through Odisha Power Transmission Corporation limited (OPTCl). The OPTCl will be entitled to 6 per cent of the project cost towards implementation charges. However, the distribution companies (DISCOMS) would be assigned the charge of repair and maintenance of the new Grid Sub-Stations.
The assets would be handed over to the DISCOMs for providing uninterrupted power supply to the consumers. However, the DISCOMs shall not hypothecate, create lien or in any manner dispose of the sub stations. The DISCOMs shall further not be entitled to any regulatory charge including depreciation on the assets. However, they would be entitled to operations and maintenance charge as may be approved by the OERC, Jena said.
Jena said that OPTCl would in turn set up a Dedicated Project Management Cell and engage Project Management Consultant from among the reputed Central Public Sector Undertakings working in the field for preparation of detailed project report, floating of tenders and construction of the high tension Grid Sub-stations. The quality of execution shall be monitored by engaging third party inspection agencies, preferably from amongst reputed Central PSUs, he said.
He said that as per the study of network requirement, the State needs as many as 1,200 33/11 KV Grid Sub-stations against the existing 573. Besides, 520 new Sub-stations, another 110 33/ 11 KV grid substation are in various stages of construction, he said. Jena said that the Government had already identified land for setting up the substations while the detail project report has been prepared for about 350 projects.
The Chief Secretary said that in order to cater to the specific needs for reliable power supply to the agriculture and fisheries sector, the Cabinet cleared the Rs1,000 crore proposal to provide separate dedicated feeders. An outlay of Rs150 crore has been provided in the Budget of the Energy Department during 2013-14 for the construction of the feeder, which would be commissioned in next four years.
lift irrigation points, bore-well and shallow tube well points for farmers in clusters and cold chain for the fisheries sectors would be provided twenty hours stable and continuous power supply under the scheme, he said . The project would help increase the production of good grains as more agricultural land will come under the fold of irrigation. Further, it would provide support to the fishermen community to enhance their production and the necessary infrastructure for cold storage, food and fish processing units, he said.