MoU soon to tap British expertise in power sector

By Thomas Abraham

LONDON, JUNE 29. India and Britain are to sign a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the power sector, the Union Power Minster, Mr. Rangarajan Kumaramanglam, has announced.

Speaking after a meeting with the British Trade and Industry Minister, Mr. Stephen Byers, Mr. Kumaramanglam said the MoU would help India tap British experience in areas such as power regulatory systems, tariff determination and competition in the power market. He said that demonstration projects, as well as training programmes would be held to help transfer technology and expertise.

Mr. Kumaramanglam also met senior executives of the National Grid, the company which owns and operates power transmission in England and Wales, to explore the possibility of its participation in power transmission. ``We had detailed discusisons with the director and executives of the National Grid to explore how they would like to participate and how we would like them to participate,'' he said. The National Grid is one of the three or four major players in the world in electricity transmission, and has the expertise and technology which India needs to build a modern grid.

The Minister said that after three days of meeting various representatives of the power industry, there was ``a more than positive indication from the British power sector that interest is not only fully there, but also active.'' He said there had been complaints that the government was not moving fast enough to deregulate the power sector. ``They need more speed, and speed will be forthcoming,'' he said.

In response to a question during a meeting with Indian journalists, Mr. Kumaramanglam said while the current Five Year Plan called for the addition of 18,000 mw of generating capacity, he would be happy if 10,000 mw was added during this period. He said the 13 projects that had achieved financial closure over the last six months would add 2,400 mw. He was hopeful that the the final negotiations on the financial arrangements for the Vizag Power Plant between the State Government and the promoters would be concluded soon.

The Minister said while the public sector transmission capacity had grown over the last eight years, the private sector had fallen behind because of uncertainties over securitisation of their financing. Of the 26,000 mw of capacity that had been added since 1992, only 6,000 mw had come from the private sector. The underlying poor health of the State Electricity Boards which had slowed down private sector participation, would be resolved in the next two to three years. ``In the next two to three years I expect to see tremendous improvement in the health of the power sector,'' he said.

Mr. Kumaramanglam said the Government had set a target of 2012 to make power available throughout the country on demand. ``We want to make power available at every door step, not merely at roadsides as at present,'' he said.

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Section  : International
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