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The proposal to hire independent experts and consultants for a power project monitoring panel to oversee the progress of under-construction projects hasn’t gone down well with either the government or industry watchers, who see this as duplication of work.
“Monitoring is already being done by the power ministry and the Central Electricity Authority (CEA). This will just add to paperwork,” said a senior power sector consultant.
The move is seen as an attempt to fast-track completion of power projects in the 11th Plan period. In the first six months of the 11th Plan period (and the current year), capacity addition has been less than a third of the target.
The Power Finance Corporation has been made the nodal agency for hiring the consultants who would visit the project sites and facilitate removal of bottlenecks.
“There’s no need to have independent experts because it is the power ministry’s responsibility to see that power projects are implemented in time. The panel will result in overlapping of functions,” said Shekar Reddy, a power sector expert.
It has been almost six months since the proposal for a monitoring panel was mooted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the chief ministers’ conference on the power sector.
He had suggested setting up of a dedicated, professionally managed National Power Project Management Board to keep track of all projects which were to be completed in the 11th Plan and to assist state and central utilities in ensuring that project implementation milestones were met for every single power project.
“Power projects are facing delays because there’s a huge equipment and manpower crunch and not because of a lack of monitoring,” said a senior CEA official.
“We don’t think the independent consultants will come out with any other reasons for the delays,” added the CEA official.
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