Kerala: Bloated outlay for lagging power projects

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 2018-19 State Plan Outlay has a huge allocation for the power sector, but a substantial chunk of it is for projects still in the incipient stage or have been going on for over a decade. The allocation for the sector is Rs 1,784.11 crore, and KSEBL gets Rs 1,713.80 crore, or more than 96 percent, of this. Of the 50-odd power projects – KSEBL’s small and big hydel and thermal and renewable projects – for which lakhs have been allocated, only five are expected by the public utility to be completed in 2020.  They are: 60-MW Pallivasal Extension Project (this was supposed to be commissioned in 2013, and now is expected to be completed by 2020); 24-MW Poringalkuthu Small Hydroelectric Project (originally  scheduled to be completed by 2014 but has overshot even its revised deadline of 2017); 6-MW Chathankottunada-II small hydel project  (original deadline was 2015); 40-MW Thottiyar Project (the project 
has been on for 12 years); and 24-MW Bhoothathankettu Project (originally scheduled to be commissioned by 2017.).

However, projects like Kakkayam, Adymapara, Sengulam Augmentation, Mankulam, Perunthenaruvi, and Barapole, which have been on for years and for which lakhs have been set apart, are not expected to be completed even during 2020-21.  “It is obvious that plan fund utilisation will be poor because many hydel projects will, like in the years past, remain dormant,” a top KSEBL source said. The utilisation this fiscal is an indicator of development inertia in the power sector. The  60-MW Pallivasal Extension project had an allocation of Rs 27.50  crore, but the utilisation was '7 lakh. The Thottiyar project, too, had an allocation of Rs 27.50 crore, but the utilisation was only 15.30 crore. 

The 6-MW Peruvannamuzhi project was earmarked Rs 15 crore, only Rs 3 lakh was used. The Chathankottunada small hydel project was given Rs 27.50 crore so that it would be commissioned by 2018, but only Rs 4 lakh was used. A total of Rs 277.80 crore was the allocation, and the utilisation just Rs 165.71 crore, a sub-60 percent utilisation.