The Centre on Wednesday approved a Rs 6,700 crore scheme for the improvement of Northeast’s power sector.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the revised cost of Rs 6,700 crore for the North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP). The project had been initially approved in December 2014 as a central sector plan scheme of the power ministry.
The move aims at fuelling the economic development of the region through strengthening of the intra-state power transmission and distribution system.
The project will be implemented through PowerGrid, a public sector unit under the power ministry, in association with six beneficiary states — Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura — and is targeted to be commissioned by December 2021, an official statement said.
The development comes close on the heels of a three-day visit by a power ministry delegation to take stock of the hydel projects being implemented in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The team was led by power secretary Sanjeev Nandan Sahai and included NHPC chairman and managing director A.K. Singh, PowerGrid CMD K. Sreekant and Neepco CMD V.K. Singh. The team said the projects must be supported by a robust infrastructure of transmission lines.
The project is being funded with assistance from the World Bank and the Centre through the power ministry on a 50:50 basis. However, the capacity building component of Rs 89 crore will be entirely funded by the Centre.
Implementation of this scheme will create a reliable power grid and improve the states’ connectivity to the upcoming load centres, and extend the benefits of grid-connected power to all categories of consumers in the Northeast. It will increase the per capita power consumption of these states besides contributing to the overall economic development.
The project will be owned and maintained by the respective states after its completion.
“Implementing agencies are hiring a considerable number of local manpower during their construction work, generating a lot of employment for skilled and unskilled manpower in the region. Additional manpower will be required for operation & maintenance of these newly-created assets as per standard norms, generating considerable additional employment opportunities in the region,” the statement said.
An official had told The Telegraph that the power secretary had been planning to undertake a visit for some time but could not because of last-minute hitches.
“We are sure it is going to be a very useful visit because he will get to know the ground situation which will help in taking sound and timely decisions. We are sure it will help to expedite the power development projects. Though we have huge potential, we have not been able to harness the same because of reasons such as inhospitable climatic conditions, remote location and inaccessibility, ultimately leading to lesser industrialisation,” the official had said.
The Northeast generates about 4,000MW of power with state-owned companies contributing over 1,053MW, central PSUs over 2,788 MW and private companies about 130MW.
The Northeast’s education sector also received a boost with the World Bank approving a $68 million project to “enhance the governance” of schools across Nagaland as well as to “improve teaching practices and learning environments” in select schools.
