Shillong, Nov. 20: The NDA government today approved the North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSlP) for six states of the region — Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland — to strengthen the intra-state transmission and distribution system.
The approval was given at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
According to an official communiqué, the project cost is an estimated Rs 5,111.33 crore, including capacity-building expenditure of Rs 89 crore. The scheme would be taken up under a new central sector plan scheme of the Union power ministry, and it will be implemented with the assistance of a loan from the World Bank and the budget of the power ministry.
The project will be funded on a 50:50 (World Bank: Centre) basis except the component of capacity building for Rs 89 crore for which the Centre will bear entirely.
As the intra-state transmission and distribution system in the Northeast has remained very weak, the communiqué stated that the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) developed a comprehensive scheme for the Northeast in consultation with the Power Grid Corporation of the India Limited (PGCIL) and the state governments concerned.
The project would be implemented through the corporation, in association with the six states, in 48 months from the date of release of funds to the PGCIL. After commissioning, the project will be owned and maintained by the state governments.
"Currently, all the six states are connected to transmission network at 132KV and below. The 33KV system is the backbone of power distribution system in the six states. To reduce the gap between the requirement and availability of the intra-state transmission and distribution system, it is necessary to provide 132KV/220KV connectivity to all the six states for proper voltage management and lower distribution losses," the communiqué stated.
Similarly, it stated that the distribution system in all six states, which mainly relies on 33KV network, would be substantially strengthened.
Moreover, the communiqué stated that the implementation of this project would create a reliable state power grid and improve its connectivity to the upcoming load centres, and thus extend the benefits of the grid-connected power to all the consumers.
The project would also provide the required grid connectivity to villages and towns of the states, where development of distribution system at the downstream level has been taking place under centrally sponsored schemes.
"This project is a major step towards meeting the national objective of 'power to all' through enhancement in access of consumers to grid-connected power supply through improving its availability and reliability, thereby facilitating inclusive growth. This would also increase the per capita power consumption of these states, which are lagging behind the average national consumption and shall contribute to the economic development of the Northeast," the communiqué added