North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project for six states for strengthening of the Intra-State Transmission and Distribution System

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, gave its approval for the North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSlP) for six States (Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland) for strengthening of the Intra State Transmission and Distribution System at an estimated cost of Rs.5111.33 crore including capacity building expenditure of Rs.89 crore. The scheme is to be taken up under a new Central Sector Plan Scheme of Ministry of Power (MoP). The scheme is to be implemented with the assistance of World Bank loan and the budget of MoP. The project will be funded on 50:50 (World Bank loan: Gol) basis except the component of capacity building for Rs.89 crore for which GoI will bear entirely.

As the Intra-State Transmission and Distribution systems in the North-Eastern States have remained very weak, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) developed a comprehensive scheme for the North East Region (NER) in consultation with the Power Grid Corporation of the India Limited (PGCIL) and State Governments concerned. The project shall be implemented through PGCIL in association with six NER States in 48 months from the date of release of funds to PGCIL. After commissioning, the project will be owned and maintained by the State Governments.

Presently, all the six NER States are connected to transmission network at 132 KV and below. The 33 KV system is the backbone of power distribution system in the six NER States. In order to reduce the gap between the requirement and availability of the intra-state transmission and distribution system, it is necessary to provide 132 KV / 220 KV connectivity to all the six NER States for proper voltage management and lower distribution losses. Similarly, the distribution system in all six NER States which mainly relies on 33 KV network would be strengthened substantially.

Implementation of this project will 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 such villages and towns of the States, where development of distribution system at the downstream level has been taking place under Gol sponsored RGGVY/ APDRP/ R-APDRP 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 shall also increase the per capita power consumption of these States, which is lagging behind the average national consumption and shall contribute to the economic development of the North-Eastern Region.

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