Rs. 15,000 cr. sought from Centre for PFA

Energy Department draws up ambitious plans for effective implementaion of the programme. According to Energy Secretary Ajay Jain, the power requirement of the State would increase to 13,500 MW peak demand by 2018-19 against the 6,158 MW of the present.

The ambitious Power For All (PFA), aimed at providing uninterrupted power supply to domestic, commercial and industrial consumers, would require a huge capital expenditure.

The Energy Department has drawn up ambitious plans for effective implementation of PFA that would involve a capital expenditure of an estimated Rs. 54,332 crore over the next five years. In their presentation made to the Union Ministry of Power officials, the power utilities elaborated on the plans for mobilising the required funds with major emphasis on sourcing them through market funding.

Accordingly, it was projected that the Energy Department would mobilise Rs. 26,172 crore through market funding and contribute another Rs. 12,443 crore from the internal resources including the contribution from the government. The officials requested the Centre to extend financial assistance for the balance Rs. 15,718 crore over the next five years.

Accordingly, the Centre was asked to allot Rs. 3,247 crore for the current year, Rs. 3,941 crore (2015-16), Rs. 3,879 crore (2016-17), Rs. 2,508 crore (2017-18) and Rs. 2,143 crore (2018-19). Of the total funds, a major chunk of Rs. 8,368 crore had been projected as requirement for strengthening the distribution network and another Rs. 5,268 crore for transmission systems. Generation and renewables contribute the remaining areas where the utilities intend to make capital investment.

According to Energy Secretary Ajay Jain, the power requirement of the State would increase to 13,500 MW peak demand by 2018-19 against the 6,158 MW of the present. It would mean that the annual requirement would shoot up from the current 43,684 million units to 82,392 MU during the five-year period.

Senior officials said the scheme would be launched in phases and would be implemented across the State by October 2016. The scheme would be launched in two corporations, nine municipalities and 39 mandals on Oct. 2 to begin with and more areas would be brought under the purview of the scheme on a quarterly basis before the stipulated deadline.