BHUBANESWAR: Even as the power sector needs high capital infusion to strengthen the transmission and distribution network for supply of quality power to the consumers, the State government has made a provision of Rs 1,799 crore for 2021-22.
A substantial portion of the budget has been provisioned to buy the AES Corporation’s stake in OPGC which is estimated at USD 135 million (around Rs 1,019 crore). Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari said Rs 500 crore is provided to the State-run OHPC as equity for buying 49 per cent share of AES in OPGC in the next financial year.
An additional equity support of Rs 225 crore is made for OPGC for installation of fuel gas desulphurisation (FDG) system for the 3rd and 4th unit of 660 MW capacity each. The FDG system required a capital expenditure of Rs 985.55 crore.
The Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL) has received a budgetary support of Rs 332 crore for construction of 132/33 KV sub-stations and other non-remunerative power infrastructure in rural areas for supply of quality power. An amount of Rs 30 crore has been provided for the Radial Ring Conversion Project which has started from 2014-15.
As many elephants are getting electrocuted in the State, the government has made a provision of Rs 120 crore to strengthen the system for elephant corridor to ensure safe passage for the animals.
The Odisha Distribution System Strengthening Project (ODSSP) which was launched in 2014-15 with an aim of strengthening the distribution system of the State and improve the quality of voltage supply to the consumers, has got an assistance of Rs 100 crore while an amount of Rs 50 crore is given under disaster resilient power system.