The Hindu Business Line : Kerala plans projects to avert power cut for 10 yrs

Other projects
The Government has decided to set up two wind energy projects.
One will be located at Ramakkalmedu with a generation capacity of 9.5 MW and the other at Attapadi of 7.5 MW.

Our Bureau

Thiruvananthapuram, Sept. 10

The Kerala Government is planning to set up a host of power projects aimed at averting power-cut and load-shedding over the next ten years.

Replying to questions in the State Assembly on Monday, the Minister for Electricity, Mr A.K. Balan, said that the Centre had again cleared the Athirapilly hydel project, which was expected to generate 470 megawatts, and the re-tendering process would be completed next month. The work on the project would be taken up on a ‘war-footing’.

He said that as many as 18 small hydel projects were identified for implementation between 1996 and 2001 using Chinese technology. Out of these, four projects had already been implemented and the Opposition would be taken into confidence while taking up the remaining 14 projects, he added.

The Government has decided to set up two wind energy projects, one at Ramakkalmedu with a generation capacity of 9.5 MW. and the other at Attapadi of 7.5 MW. The latter project is expected to start operating this month itself.

The Minister informed the House that the State now had an installed capacity of 3,500 MW. with a peak-hour consumption of 2,800 MW.

The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) will initiate stringent steps to check power thefts and realise power charge arrears. The board has to get arrears to the tune of Rs 658 crore from private consumers, while the government institutions owed another Rs 1,184 crore with the Kerala Water Authority topping the list with Rs 750 crore.

State Finances

On the other hand, the board has to meet additional expenses of Rs 745 crore, including Rs 167 crore arising out of revision of employees’ salaries. There is, however, no proposal to raise the power tariffs, Mr Balan said.

The public debt of the State Government has gone up, while there has been a declining trend in respect of its revenue and fiscal deficits, the Minister for Finance, Mr Thomas Isaac, told the house.

Quoting provisional figures, he said that the State’s public debt had risen to Rs 49,872 crore in 2006-07 from Rs 31,060 crore in 2002-03. At the same time, the revenue deficit came down from Rs 4,119 crore to Rs 2,589 crore during the period.