Union power minister Suresh Prabhu has sought an increase in allocation under the accelerated power development programme (APDP) to Rs 5,000 crore annually during the Tenth Plan period for distribution reforms in the country.
In his meeting with Planning Commission deputy chairman K C Pant today, Prabhu made out a case for increasing Rs 1,500 crore provided under APDP during 2001-02, to an annual allocation of Rs 5,000 crore for the next five years, government officials said.
According to Prabhu, an estimated Rs 80-100 crore would be required per distribution circle for undertaking reforms. In order to cover all the 413 distribution circles during the Tenth Plan period, an outlay of Rs 50,000 crore would be needed.
"This amount would be funded through a combination of grant and loan in the ratio of 50:50 for non-special category states and in the ratio of 90:10 for special category states," officials said.
The loan component would be provided by Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and other financial institutions. On this basis, an outlay of Rs 25,000 crore would be required in the Tenth Plan for implementing projects aimed at strengthening and upgradation of the distribution system, officials said.
The power minister also identified 36,000 mw new generating capacities which would be added during the Tenth Plan period (2002-07), officials said. Prabhu informed the Planning Commission that techno-commercial interventions were being made under APDP to operate distribution circles as profit centre and feeders as business unit by merging technical and commercial functions.
For achieving results in terms of loss reduction, quality and reliability of power, it was necessary that the programme being implemented in 63 circles was extended to cover the remaining 350 circles, sources said.
Prabhu also proposed to set up a project monitoring and managing cell in the ministry of power exclusively for implementation of APDP schemes.
