The Centrally-funded “Comprehensive Scheme for T&D System in Arunachal Pradesh & Sikkim” is expected to commission by March 2025.
According to the latest status report issued by Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the scheme was broadly 62 per cent completed as of August 31, 2024, and is expected to fully commission by March 31, 2025.
The overall scheme has 294 elements comprising transmission lines and substations, spread over Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. As of August 31, 2024, a total of 182 elements were commissioned, implying completion rate of around 62 per cent.
The scheme has recorded higher completion rate in Sikkim with 41 of the 55 elements completed. In Arunachal Pradesh, 141 of the total 239 elements were commissioned as of August 31, 2024.
In terms of physical infrastructure, transmission line addition is moving slowly, bogged down by severe right of way-related constraints in several projects across both the states. As of August 31, 2024, only 1,029 ckm of the total 4,241 ckm planned were completed, implying a completion ratio of just under 25 per cent.
On the other hand, around 67 per cent (or 1,270 MVA) of the total 1,910 MVA of substation capacity envisaged was completed, as of given date, across Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.
The scheme is also understood to be contending with fund-related challenges. As of August 31, 2024, a total of Rs.6,723.63 crore was spent on the project. It is understood that there was no amount available with the implementing agency as of August 31, 2024, and that project implementation would now depend entirely on release of fresh funds by the Central government.
Incidentally, when approved by the government in October 2014, the scheme was expected to cost Rs.4,754.42 crore but consistently faced cost overruns. The latest project cost, estimated at Rs.9,129.32 crore, was approved in March 2021.
It is also understood that significant delay was caused due to tardy progress by contractors. At least five packages, currently under construction, are cases of re-tendering of contracts following inability of the original contractors to commission projects in the contractual timeframe.
Background
Arunachal Pradesh is a thinly-populated state with a population of less than 14 lakh (Census 2011) spread across a vast geographical area covering almost 84,000 sqkm. The backbone of the power distribution system is still 33kV, in most parts of the state. In Sikkim also, much of the grid relies only the 66kV system. The Centrally-funded “Comprehensive Scheme for T&D System in Arunachal Pradesh & Sikkim” therefore aims at creating new transmission lines and substations, including those of 220kV and 132kV voltages, with a view to ensuring proper voltage management and lower distribution losses. Over half of the total transmission line network and substation capacity envisaged across the two states is of the 132kV voltage level. Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) is the project implementing agency.
It may be mentioned that the remaining six northeastern states – Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura – are covered under a separate Centrally-funded scheme called “North-Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP).”
Featured photograph (source: westsiang.nic.in) shows overview of Aalo, the district headquarters of West Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh.
