Transmission projects of Rs 1 lakh cr to be bid out in 6 months: Piyush Goyal

In order to strengthen the power transmission in the country, the government would award projects totaling Rs 1 lakh crore in the coming six months, said minister of state for coal, power and renewable energy Piyush Goyal.

“We are planning to award power transmission projects through tariff based competitive bidding to bring in private sector investment in the sector. In the coming six months, we target to award projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore,” Goyal told reporters. 

As per FICCI report in 2013, in order to meet the upcoming generation capacity, investment in the transmission sector needs to be to the tune of $35 billion. Of this, $16 billion – 46 per cent of the total investments, needs to be secured from private players, said the report.

Power transmission sector was opened up to the private sector in 2010 with the award of Western Regional System Strengthening to Reliance Infra and East-North Interconnection line to Sterlite.

However, state run Power Grid Corporation of India has a monopoly in the market with more than 45 per cent project allotted to it and having 99 per cent market share. Currently Power Grid has more than Rs 1.3 lakh crore order book of central as well as state funded projects. Currently, it has 15 major transmission projects pending owing to issues on land and delay in power generation installation.

Central government in the last budget granted of Rs 1.1 lakh crore for comprehensive power infrastructure upgradation pan India under two schemes (DeenDayalUpadhyay Gram JyotiYojana(DDUGJY) for rural India and Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) for urban India) to meet its poll manifesto promise of 24x7 affordable power for all.