The CM announced the wide-ranging decisions, taken during Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, at a press conference later.
"I have inherited this problem and immediate improvement is not possible. I ask the people to forgive me. My government plans to increase the generation by 1,200 MW by next year. By 2009, 2,700 MW would be added. But the total demand would be met only by 2011.” —Mayawati, BSP chief
The Mayawati government has decided to take long-term initiatives to overhaul the state’s energy sector. The CM announced the wide-ranging decisions, taken during Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, at a press conference later.
But the bad news for UP’s denizens looking forward to early relief from the frequent power cuts during the sultry summer is that day might not come before 2011. Mayawati also gave indications that the domestic power tariff could be revised upwards soon.
However, Mayawati spelt good tidings for private corporates who bagged multi-crore power projects during the previous Mulayam Singh regime. They include the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s (ADAG) Reliance Energy, GVK Industries and Lanco Kundapalli.
After the change of government, it was widely speculated that these projects could run into trouble. But Mayawati only said: “The government will ensure completion of these projects within the scheduled time.” She also made no mention of ADAG’s Rs 10,000-crore Dadri project in Ghaziabad for which the Mulayam government had given 2,500 acres of land at a measly price.
If that was not surprising enough, there was more to come. Contrary to her usual aggressive posturing, Mayawati actually asked for the people’s forgiveness for the heavy load shedding in the state this summer. “Yeh samasya mujhe virasat mein mili hai jis mein turant sudhar sambhav nahin hai… main janta se shama chahati hoon (I have inherited this problem and immediate improvement is not possible. I ask the people to forgive me.),” she said.
The peak demand in the state has risen to 8,500 MW while the supply is only about 6,500 MW, which includes about 2,000 MW of import. Still, there is a shortfall of about 2,000 MW which results in extended undeclared shutdowns everyday.
“My government plans to increase the generation by 1,200 MW by next year, By 2009, 2,700 MW would be added. But the total demand would be met only by 2011 when we can generate an additional 10,000 MW,” she declared.
Mayawati hinted at a rise in power prices soon, saying: “Power tariffs have not been revised over the past three years despite the increase in fuel cost and power imports. The power tariff would have to be made more rational.”
The Mayawati government plans to set up a 1,320 MW power project in Allahabad with NTPC in the joint sector over the next four years. Besides, the government would allocate projects of 3,000 MW capacity in Allahabad to the private sector. “These projects would be allocated on the basis of global bidding and a fully transparent procedure so that reputed firms can be part of this process,” she said.
Reliance Energy would be setting up the 600 MW Roza power plant in Shahjahanpur. The 500 MW x 2 (1000 MW) prestigious Anpara-C project in Sonebhadra district in remote east UP is to be executed by Lanco Kundapalli, and the 290 MW Srinagar power project in Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand was bagged by GVK Industries.
The agreements for these three power plants were signed in late 2006 but nothing has been done at any of these sites yet.
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