Steady power supply must to woo investors By R Dutta Choudhury GUWAHATI, April 27 – If steady supply of power at reasonable rate is made available, Assam will be able to attract investments to the tune of at least Rs 2,000 crore within two years, observed the chairman of the Assam State Council of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Abhijit Barooah. Talking to The Assam Tribune, Barooah admitted that the present power crisis has severely affected all the industries in the State. He revealed that it is not viable for most of the industries to run with diesel generator sets as the cost would turn out to be very high and also because of the fact that the industries of the State are now forced to compete not only with the industries from other parts of India but also from abroad.
It is a matter of concern that though Assam is rich in oil and natural gas, the gas-based power projects like Kathalguri, Namrup and Lakwa thermal power stations cannot run on full capacity because of shortage of gas and the Government of Assam, Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) and the oil companies like the Oil India Limited (OIL) and the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) should sit together to sort out the problems to ensure that all the thermal power stations operate in their full capacity, Barooah said.
The CII Assam chapter chairman pointed out that the Chandrapur thermal power station remained closed for years because of high cost of production, but steps should be taken to operate the unit only during severe power shortage to tide over the crisis. “We are not demanding that the power station should be operated regularly, but it can be operated during hours of crisis to tide over the situation,” he added.
The Government is now claiming that the peak load hour requirement of power in the State is around 800 MW but the demand will increase substantially if power is made available. The Government should start planning ahead with requirement of at least 2,000 MW, he said. He also expressed the view that efforts should be made to expedite the process of installation of the 750 MW thermal power station by the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in Bongaigaon and steps should also be taken to procure excess power from Sikkim and Bhutan to meet the demand.
Barooah expressed the view that if steady power supply at reasonable prices is made available, industries consuming at least a thousand MW of power would be established in Assam within two years. He pointed out that in States like West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, the cost of power for the industries is coming down gradually in the last three years, while, in Assam, the cost of power is going up. He said that though power sector reforms have started showing some results in Assam, the pace of reforms in the State might have been slower than in the States where the cost of power is coming down.
The CII on its own launched some efforts to bring in investments in power sector and a meet between the Governments of the NE States and potential investors was held in Kolkata, following which, a number of investors including prominent companies showed interest in investing in the sector, particularly in the States of Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. The region has full of potential for hydropower and the resources must be tapped to improve the overall power scenario in the region, he added. But at the same time, Barooah pointed out that the Governments of the concerned States must extend their whole-hearted support to the companies which have come forward to invest in the power sector.
Barooah further pointed out that the organisations, which call for frequent bandhs and road blockades are also to be blamed for the present power crisis in Assam. The bandh culture severely disrupted the functioning of the oil companies, which in turn resulted in shortage of gas to run the gas-based thermal power stations to their full capacity. The organisations giving bandh calls have no right to criticise anyone for the power crisis as they are partly to be blamed for the present scenario, he pointed out.
