The Hindu : Business : Shinde worried over shortage of turbines for power generation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 28, 2007
ePaper

Business

Business

Shinde worried over shortage of turbines for power generation

Special Correspondent

Call for targeted capacity addition

— Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

POWER CONCERN: Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde (left), with Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI, at the launch of ‘India Electricity 2007’ in New Delhi on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI: The shortage of power equipment to meet the requirements of generation companies is ‘worrisome’ and immediate steps are needed to step up production to achieve the capacity addition target of 78,000 MW during the XI Plan, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Union Power Minister, said here on Wednesday.

Talking to newsmen on the sidelines of the launch of ‘India Electricity 2007,’ jointly organised by the Ministry of Power and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here, Mr. Shinde urged power equipment manufacturers to seize the opportunities of targeted capacity expansion. The ‘India Electricity 2007’ would be held here from September 20 to 22.

Mr. Shinde said that shortage of power equipment (like turbines and boilers) presented a worrisome scenario and the Government would want production facilities to come up urgently in the joint sector. He indicated that the long pending National Hydro Power Policy would be put up before the Union Cabinet for approval shortly so that a new shape and direction would be given to power generation.The Power Minister said the Central power utilities like Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) did not have the requisite capacity to manufacture equipment of the size and magnitude required. “The challenge is not only to generate Rs. 10 lakh crore during the XI Plan, but also to find the institutions, companies, project managers, workmen and vendors who will deliver the phenomenal work on capacity addition and the transmission and distribution network improvement and expansion in the required time frame.”

Mr. Shinde said the international conference and exhibition on emerging opportunities for investment and growth was a welcome initiative.

Mr. Shinde said the key challenge for the Power Ministry was to help sustain the GDP growth of 9.4 per cent achieved in 2006-07 with a similar growth in the power sector.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Business