Telangana planning to take overhead power lines underground

Hyderabad: Underground cabling for power distribution will cost a bomb, but will be worth the money spent in terms of citizens’ safety and ensuring an end to frequent supply disruptions caused by tree falls and other mishaps.

A government team that studied the multiutility underground corridor project in New Delhi is expected to report that the cost of the underground 1.3-km multiutility corridor was Rs 400 crore.

This included shifting of the electricity lines and laying them underground; setting up of electricity sub-stations, transformers, water and gas pipelines, a separate fire fighting system; besides the telephone and internet cables of companies.

“What was created in New Delhi was a huge duct of 23.95 feet x 25.42 feet. It has CCTV cameras and illumination. While the 1.3 km duct cost the New Delhi Municipal Council, Rs 265 crore, another Rs 130 crore had to be spent ti shifting multi-utility systems and construct of transformers and other infrastructure,” said Southern Discom chief general manager (master plan) K. Ramulu, who led the team to New Delhi.

The government wants an underground duct project that suits local conditions. It has proposed laying of underground ducts before white-topped roads are laid so that frequent road-digging can be avoided. If properly planned and laid, multi-utility service ducts will ensure that the road is not dug up in the next 15 to 20 years.

Initially, the government wants to lay 100-km of white-topped roads. Following the Delhi model would cost it Rs 40,000 crore.

TS Southerm Discom director (operations) Sreenivas Reddy said the government would take a call on the report and a similar study from Mumbai. There is also a proposal to study similar projects in other cities.