AP may get Rs 8k crore under APDRP scheme

Andhra Pradesh may get Rs 8,000 crore under the Government of India?s Accelerated Power Development Reforms Programme (APDRP) during the XI Plan. A detailed project report, already prepared, will be submitted to the Centre in this regard during the first week of December.

According to a statement from the government, Union minister of state for energy, Jairam Ramesh, during his visit to the city had said that since Andhra Pradesh has a very good track record in power sector, the State government would get the funding under APDRP.

The State has the record of minimum transmission and distribution (T&D) losses compared to other States in the country. For instance, Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL), comprising of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East and West Godavari, stands first in the country in reducing T&D losses with only 8% during 2007-08. AP Transco has also reduced the T&D losses.

According to statistics, during 2006-07, Central Power Distribution Company of Andhra Pradesh Ltd (APCPDCL) showed T&D loss at 18.24%, while the Northern Power Distribution Company of A.P. Ltd (APNPDCL) had 26.61% loss and Southern Power Distribution Company of Andhra Pradesh Ltd (APSPDCL) had T&D loss of 17.20%.

In the case of APNPDCL, the loss was more because of the maximum agricultural power connections and pumpsets.

Jairam Ramesh hoped that it would be easy for Andhra Pradesh to implement the APDRP scheme and avail the benefit of the scheme in total.

?The State would be a role model in this regard for others to follow,? he had said.

APDRP aims at establishing baseline data and IT applications for energy accounting, auditing and IT-based consumer service centres.

Besides, it would cover the regular distribution strengthening projects through renovation, modernisation and strengthening of 11 kv level sub-stations, transformers, load bifurcation, feeder separation, load balancing high voltage distribution system (HVDS) in 11 kv., etc. Replacement of old meters, installation of capacitor bank, separation of agricultural loads from mixed feeders etc were also part of the programme.

As per the scheme, initially 50% of the project cost shall be provided as grant and the remaining 50% may be provided as loan which could be converted into grant subsequently based on achieving the specified targets. Investments incurred by the DISCOMs on IT initiatives during 2007-08 and 2008-09 would be reimbursed.