Revised APDRP to be ready soon: Power Secretary

New Delhi, May 9 (UNI) The government today said the second phase of the accelerated power development and reforms programme (APDR) will be introduced soon to bring down the aggregate technical and commercial losses below 15 per cent by 2012.

''APDRP Phase-II will be ready very soon,'' Power Secretary Anil Razdan told reporters on the sidelines of a 'National Seminar on Control Instrumentation and Automation for Innovating Power Sector', organised by Confederation of Indian Industry' here.

The Rs 50,000-crore APDRP scheme plans to bring the AT&C losses to less than 15 per cent by the end of Eleventh Five Year Plan.

The total AT&C losses stand at about 35 per cent, which was around 39 per cent in 2001-02.

The scheme, which was introduced in 2003, also aims to bring commercial viability in power sector, beside reducing outrages and interruptions and increasing consumer satisfaction.

Mr Razdan said the transmission and distribution loss should be brought down to ten per cent to meet the mammoth power demand in the country.

''Power companies should use latest technology and provide affordable energy. Transmission and distribution loss needs to be brought down to 10 per cent to effectively meet mammoth demand.

Power theft and misdirection should be checked,'' he said.

The Secretary said the country offers a huge opportunity for the power equipment manufacturers.

There is a huge requirement of power equiment to meet the target of capacity addition of 78,577 MW during the Eleventh Plan, he added.

Mr Razdan said there is need to cut the size of instrumentation and demystify technology so that the end-user gets the maximum benefit.

''We should deploy technology to warn end-user and check breakdown in case he draws excess power from the system,'' he said.

UNI MP SBA GC1740