FIRST EVER CONFERENCE ON CAPACITY ADDITION IN
POWER SECTOR IN 10TH AND 11TH PLANS BEGINS ON JULY 8TH
The first ever conference on capacity addition
in the power sector during the 10th and 11th
Plans will begin here from July 8th. The two-day conference
has been called at the initiative of the Minister of Power, Shri
Suresh Prabhu. The Conference is the result of a review taken
by the Minister of Power of the state of preparedness of the projects
which have been identified for commissioning in the 10th
Plan. During the various review meetings, Shri Prabhu took serious
note of the fact that performance in respect of capacity addition
has been extremely poor in the 9th Plan. The Minister
while commending the performance of the State Sector, made a mention
that the Central Sector and the Private Sector’s performance has
been lackluster. The Minister has said that there should be an
analysis of the reasons as to why the targeted capacity addition
could not be achieved during the 9th Plan.
During the meeting beginning on July 8, discussions
will be held with the Chairpersons of State Electricity Boards
and Power Secretaries of the States to discuss the status of the
projects that have been identified in the 10th Plan
period. Some of the leading independent power producers (IPPs)
have also been invited to attend and give a presentation. This
kind of meeting to monitor on-going power projects has been scheduled
for the first time and is unprecedented.
Deliberations at the Conference are expected
to resolve bottlenecks that may exist during the execution of
the projects. Representatives from various Central Ministries
like Coal, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Railways, Programme Implementation
and also the Planning Commission would be present at the Conference.
Invitations have also been extended to some of the leading financial
institutions (FIs) who are one of the important stake holders
for the future development of the power sector.
The Minister of Power, Shri Suresh Prabhu
has also ordered a number of measures in order to ensure that
capacity addition target in the 10th Plan are achieved.
To mention a few, a special monitoring team under the Special
Secretary, Power has been constituted to monitor identified projects,
in-depth discussions have been held with the States before finalization
of the list of projects to be commissioned in the 10th
Plan, a special group under one of the former CMDs of the Power
Finance Corporation has been constituted to assess the financial
needs of the power sector in the 10th and 11th
Plan Periods. Besides, Shri Prabhu has personally requested all
Chief Ministers to enhance the power sector outlays in the 10th
Plan.
The Conference will also be addressed by
the Minister of State for Power, Smt. Jayawanti Mehta, the Secretary
Power, Shri R.V. Shahi and the Chairman of the Central Electricity
Authority (CEA) Shri H.L. Bajaj.
