CCEA Approves RCE for North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the Revised Cost Estimate (RCE) of the North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP) at an estimated cost of Rs.6,700 crore. This is a major step, towards the economic development of the North Eastern Region through the strengthening of Intra-State Transmission and Distribution systems.

Announced on Wednesday, this scheme is being executed through POWERGRID, a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) with six beneficiaries; Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura and targeted to be commissioned by December 2021. After commissioning, the project will be owned and maintained by the respective North-Eastern State Utilities.

The government’s commitment to the total economic development of the North Eastern Region and to strengthen the Intra-State Transmission & Distribution Infrastructure in the North Eastern Region is the foremost goal of this project. Its implementation will create a reliable power grid and improve North East Region States’ connectivity to the upcoming load centers, thus extend the benefits of the grid-connected power to all consumers of beneficiaries in the North Eastern Region.

The scheme shall also increase the per capita power consumption of these States, and shall contribute to the total economic development of the North-Eastern Region.

Implementing agencies are hiring a considerable number of local manpower during the construction works, creating large employment for skilled and unskilled manpower of North Eastern Region.

Besides, on completion, the additional manpower will be required for the Operation & Maintenance of these newly created assets as per standard norms, which will further create considerable employment opportunities for the North Eastern Region States.

This Scheme was initially approved in December 2014 as a Central Sector Plan Scheme of the Ministry of Power and being funded with the assistance of World Bank funds and by the Government of India through the Budget support of the Ministry of Power on a 50:50 basis. But, the capacity building component for Rs 89 crore will be entirely funded by the Government of India.