North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP)
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the Revised Cost Estimate (RCE) of the North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP). The project has been revised at the estimated cost of Rs. 6,700 crores. This project is a major step for the economic development of the North Eastern Region. It seeks to strengthen the Intra – State Transmission and Distribution systems.
About NERPSIP
The NERPSIP scheme is being implemented through POWERGRID which is a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the Ministry of Power. It is being developed in association with the six beneficiaries of the North Eastern States – Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura. The project is targeted to be commissioned by December 2021. Once the project is commissioned, it will be owned and maintained by the respective North-Eastern State Utilities.
Objective of the Scheme
The scheme is being implemented with the objective of Government total economic development of the North Eastern Region. It will also strengthen the Intra-State Transmission and Distribution Infrastructure in the North East Region.
Significance of the scheme
Once the scheme is implemented, it will create a reliable power grid and will improve the NER States’ connectivity to the upcoming load centres. It will also extend the benefits of the grid-connected power for all the consumers from all categories of the beneficiary states in North Eastern Region. It will increase the per capita power consumption of these States. Thus, would contribute to total economic development of the North-Eastern Region.
Background
The Central Sector Scheme was approved in December 2014 by the Ministry of Power. The project is also funded by the World Bank. The project cost is shared between GOI and World Bank in 50:50 basis. However, the capacity building component of the project which costs Rs 89 crore will be entirely funded by the Government of India (Gol).