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The state government has approved plans to spend nearly INR 6,600 crore in next five years in developing seven projects for strengthening and upgrading existing power infrastructure in the state. Most of the investments will be made in building smart grid and storm resistance projects, officials said. The recent approvals are over and above the earlier announced INR 4,400 crore schemes, to be spent in two projects for establishing transformers, substations and dedicated feeders for agriculture.

"In total, we have approved nine projects of around INR 11,000 crores for strengthening power network in the state," said U N behera, state finance secretary while speaking on the concluding session of a workshop on post-cyclone power restoration work with the theme of "Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead 2014" here.

The energy department is already working on disaster resilient transmission and distribution system in Ganjam district with a total project cost of INR 1,000 crore. The state government has requested Asian Development Bank (ADB) to lend INR 713 crore for the project.

Other disaster resilient power network scheme include building robust infrastructure in areas within 50 kilometers of coast with an investment of INR 1,820 crore, which will be completed by 2017. A disaster response centre has been decided to be set up with an expenditure of INR 175 crore in next two years.

The department has also come up with a project named State Capital Region Improvement of Power System (SCRIPS) to ensure reliable and quality power supply with a total investment of INR 1,500 crore in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack region. About INR 1450 crore will be spent on radial to ring conversion project in next three years, dedicated to minimise transmission loss.

Other projects include strengthening of district headquarters power system with total investment of INR 200 crore and a smart grid project for entire state with INR 380 crore expenses in next three years. For the current fiscal, the state government has approved investment of around INR 1,500 crore for all the schemes, said state transmission agency official.

"For current fiscal we have got about INR 1,500 crore for initial investment in all these schemes, whose DPRs are being prepared. We have applied to international financing institutions such as JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) for providing loans for some of our projects. We will arrange the remaining funds for all these schemes by end of this five year plan period (2017)," said Hemant Sharma, chairman and managing director of Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (OPTCL).

Source-On Request