Our Bureau

Mumbai , Jan. 15

THE Union Power Ministry will select a chairman for the appellate tribunal for power, a quasi-judiciary body for settling disputes between power sector companies, within two weeks.

The Government has finalised three members to be appointed on the board, Mr P.M. Sayeed, Union Minister for Power, told reporters here on Saturday. However, he did not give their names.

The minister said the final draft of the National Electricity Policy has been sent to the Cabinet for approval.

The power industry has been for long demanding an appellate tribunal to settle disputes. Instances such as the standby charges dispute between Tata Power and Reliance Energy have only reaffirmed such a need.

According to the Electricity Act 2003, the chairman of the appellate tribunal should either be a Supreme Court judge or a high court Chief Justice. The tribunal should consist of a high court judge, a bureaucrat with experience in economics and infrastructure and an expert on the power sector or regulation.

Mr Sayeed said investors' confidence in the power sector has revived and power generation has grown by 7.8 per cent over the last eight months, compared to the last three years. Eleven private sector power projects, adding up to 4,000 MW generation capacity, have achieved financial closure so far.

Another eight projects, totalling 9,500 MW, with tariff of around Rs 2 a unit, are expected to achieve financial closure, he said. These include Reliance Energy's 3,500-MW Dadri project, Tata Power's 1,000-MW Vile project and Nagarjuna Power Corporation's Mangalore-based 1,015-MW coal-based project.

The minister said it has targeted providing power to 1.25 lakh villages in the next five years, under the Rural Electrification Backbone project. The project will involve setting up of a transformer in each village, which in turn will be linked to a 33/11-KV substation in each district block. These substations will be linked to the State distribution network.

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