Power infrastructure in the city is in for a significant upgrade with the Union government sanctioning Rs.178.77 crore more to it on Friday under the Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP) for the installation of transformers, laying of underground cables and so on.
The Union government had earlier given Rs.90 crore to the city under the programme.
Forty-three towns in the State have been selected for inclusion in the scheme. The criterion for this is a population of 30,000 as per the 2001 census.
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Officials of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) said on Sunday that the additional allocation was for a project area of 162 sq. km stretching from Kazhakuttam to Vizhinjam.
Substation at Pettah
“One 33-kV substation will be set up in the Pettah area, 450 km of underground cables laid, 750 ring main units and 500 automated power factor control units installed, 200 step-down transformers erected and 80,000 electricity meters converted to electronic units under this scheme,” an executive engineer of the utility said.
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As part of setting up the new substation, six km of underground power cables would be laid from the substation in the Medical College area, he said.
While Rs.90 crore was sanctioned under Part A of the programme, the current allocation was under Part B.
KSEB officials said the Part A funds were for putting in place technology for detecting, quantifying and controlling transmission loss.
Training
Funds under Part B were meant for development of infrastructure.
Allocations under Part C of the scheme were for organising capacity-building programmes for Board officials, they said.
Central component
KSEB Chief Engineer (Corporate Planning) Vikraman Nair told The Hindu here on Sunday that 25 per cent of the programme funds would be a loan from the Union government, and the rest would have to be taken as loan by the Board from various sources.
“If we are able to keep our aggregated technical and commercial loss at 15 per cent or below of the power in the project area, 10 per cent of the loan will be converted to grant every year.
“That is, over a five-year period, up to 50 per cent of the loan money can become a grant,” he said.