Financial closure tops Sayeed's list

Rules out review of the Electricity Act 2003.

Power Minister PM Sayeed said today the government would try to ensure financial closure for independent power projects with 8,000 megawatt capacity by June this year.

He said speeding up electrification in rural areas would be accorded top priority by the United Progressive Alliance government, which would also ask the committee on Dabhol Power restructuring, headed by Naresh Chandra, to expedite its work.

A long-term capacity addition programme of 150,000 Mw, of which 100,000 Mw would be thermal units, would be formulated in the next one month, Sayeed said while outlining his agenda after assuming charge.

The minister also ruled out a review of the Electricity Act, 2003, as demanded by the Left parties. He also said the coming months would see four new initiatives "" an Electricity Tariff Policy, National Electricity Policy, Rural Electrification Policy and a policy on competitive bidding.

The Electricity Tariff Policy was expected to be placed before the Union Cabinet first. Officials said the necessary consultation work had already been completed and the proposal would be taken up shortly.

The Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (APDRP) is also proposed to be strengthened to provide quality electricity supply in addition to ensuring financial turnaround in the power sector.

Sayeed said the objective of the new government would be to supply "reliable" power to agriculture and rural households.

For this purpose, the Rural Electrification Corporation was proposed to be restructured and its role as a financing agency would be expanded to cover implementation work as well, senior power ministry officials said.

They added performance-linked incentives would also be built into the scheme.

Asked about the Dabhol Power project, Sayeed told reporters that the ministry would ask the Naresh Chandra Committee looking into ways of restarting the project to expedite its work.

"The power ministry will not fail in resolving it," he said. The committee, constituted by the NDA government, has so far been holding consultations with domestic lenders to Dabhol and the finance ministry to look at ways to restart the facility lying idle since 2001, after financial disputes arose between the state electricity board and the company.