Planning commission to set up expert group for PPP in power distribution

The Planning Commission said yesterday that it would set up an expert group headed by its member BK Chaturvedi to facilitate private participation in power distribution.

The committee would include the chief secretaries of state governments as also the union power secretary and representatives from two financial institutions. It is expected to be set up in the next two days.

According to deputy chairman of planning commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who was speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a conference on public private partnerships in transmission projects organised by the Plan panel, BK Chaturvedi, who looks after the power sector would chair a group which the commission's infrastructure division would service.

''We will have Chaturvedi, secretary power ... may be REC (Rural Electrification Corporation) representative and couple of financial organisations,'' he said, adding that it would also include chief and power secretaries from those states that have experimented with private operations.

Some states have already privatised power power distribution including West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Delhi and Gujarat.

After the various modalities of promotion of PPP in distribution segment in the country are worked out, the group would submit a report to the central government for which no time frame has been set as yet for the submission of the report.