Team Herald
MARGAO: The Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) will hold a public hearing on the Business Plan submitted by the Electricity Department on October 30 at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao from 10 am onwards.
People would be allowed to raise their objections or give suggestions at the hearing.
It is learnt that the department has apparently submitted a half-baked plan as the map of Goa attached to the plan shows only 11 talukas and Dharbandora taluka does not figure in it.
As per the plan submitted by the Electricity Department, the projected capital expenditure for the year 2019-20 is Rs 956 crore which goes up to Rs 960 crore the next year and in 2021-11 it is projected at Rs 961 crore.
Chief Electrical Engineer N Neelakanta Reddy’s affidavit in the plan states that the key elements are the SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) analysis, review of previous control periods, sales forecast, power procurement plan, capital investment plan and allocation for wires and supply business.
Going through the plan there are huge differences between the estimates and actual figures. For example in employee expenditure, the approved amount for 2016-17 was Rs 239.21 crore, but the actual was Rs 228.96 crore. While in 2017-18, the actual expenditure was Rs 313.40 crore as against the approved amount of Rs 254.24 crore and during the current year, the approval was Rs 270.41 crore and now it is presumed that the actual amount will be Rs 377 crore.
Besides getting power from the Central Grid, Goa also gets power from three power plants namely Goa Energy Private Ltd from which around 14 to 21 MW is purchased, Goa Sponge and Power Limited provides 3 MW and Vedanta Ltd supplies 2 MW.
The plan envisages establishing a 400/220 KV sub-station at Xeldem along with a 400 KV link line to draw power from the Southern Region. However, as land is not available in Xeldem, it is proposed to set up the plant at Dharbandora or Mollem areas the land for which has been identified, but not acquired.
The plan mentions that around 1.95 lakh streetlight fixtures have been replaced by LED streetlights in Goa. However, there is no mention of the fact that most villages are facing a problem with the LED streetlights as the contractor never attends to the complaints.
Admitting that the prevailing infrastructure is insufficient, it is proposed to strengthen the sub transmission and distribution network and capital investment is proposed to improve quality of supply and reduce interruptions.
The plan states that conversion of overhead network to underground cabling is in progress at Bogda, Sada, Baina in Mormugao taluka while the same will be undertaken in Mapusa and Ponda.
