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Power supply in Delhi to be privatised partially

The Delhi government is in the process of offering the power distribution responsibilities to a private company in East Delhi, which accounts for 30 per cent of the national capital's power consumption.

Union Power Minister R Kumaramangalam and Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma told newsmen after a meeting with each other that the government had appointed the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India as consultants on the privatisation. ICICI was making a presentation to the Delhi chief secretary later today and to the government next week.

Kumaramangalam said the exercise was basically about restructuring and reforming the distribution system in the national capital, which recorded 50 per cent losses in distribution.

The proposal was a time-bound privatisation package that could be implemented in 40 weeks from the day the Delhi government decided upon the issue. The consultants would invite bids from private companies to take up the responsibilities.

The chief minister said there was also a proposal to privatise the street lighting which could be extended to rest of Delhi excepting the New Delhi areas.

There were also demands from the industrial areas to set up dedicated, uninterrupted power supply sources and many industries were ready to pay more. The government had agreed to the proposal in principle.

Kumaramangalam said detailed discussions on the power supply situation in the National Capital Territory Region region had been held.

The Union power minister said he would also be visiting state capitals of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab in the coming weeks with top energy officials to help these states overcome the immediate problems. He would also be visiting the Northeast states and other states.

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj also attended the meeting in her capacity as an member of Parliament of Delhi.

Earlier in the day, the Northeastern Electric Power Corporation, which handles 50 per cent of the demand in the northeastern region with an authorised share capital of Rs 15 billion, handed over a dividend of Rs 10 million to Kumaramangalam.

United States ambassador Richard S Celeste also called on the power minister to review the Indo-US cooperation in the sector and exchanged views on the policy for private sector participation in the power sector. A third bilateral consultation meeting between the two countries is expected to be held shortly.

About 30 companies from the US have expressed their interest in setting up 20,000 mw project requiring an investment of Rs 830 billion.

UNI