In a step that is expected to put an end to the power woes of Gurugram residents, authorities are all set to float tenders on August 7 for the first two phases of Part-I of the Smart Grid project. The long-awaited three-part project is aimed at supplying uninterrupted electricity to the Millennium City.
Six phases in Part-I
Part-I of the project will comprise six phases — covering Sectors 1-57 — and will be built at a cost of over ₹1,200 crore. Chief engineer (Operations) of Delhi Zone, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), Sanjiv Chopra said: “Each phase will cost around ₹200 crore. The two tenders will be opened for the South City sub-division and the sub-divisions of Maruti and the IDC put together. We hope to allot the work by October this year and the work for the two parts will be completed by December 2018.”
The Maruti and IDC sub-divisions of DHBVN, which lie on the right side of the Delhi-Jaipur highway when coming from toll plaza to Jharsa Chowk, cover mainly Udyog Vihar and the old city area, including Sadar Baazar. The South City sub-division mostly includes Sectors 15, 16, 17, 39, 40 and Jharsa village.
All phases of Part-I are expected to be completed by end of 2019.
The remaining area of Gurugram, from Sector 58 to 115, and the IMT Manesar area will be taken up in Parts-II and III of the project.
Poor infrastructure
Though the availability of power has not been an issue in Gurugram over the past few years — with the government claiming to have surplus power — the poor electrical infrastructure, especially in licenced colonies, has been blamed for frequent power outages and poor quality of power.
The existing electrical infrastructure in the city is unreliable and prone to long outages.
Overburdened network
Due to constraints in capacity of transmission substations, the distribution network cannot be upgraded as per future load requirements. The present network is also unable to ensure peak load management, demand side management, outage management and distributed generation.
‘End to power woes’
The problem is acute during summer and monsoon with the increase in demand. According to DHBVN officials, almost all developers in Gurugram have failed to provide requisite infrastructure such as transformers, feeders and sub-stations leading to power cuts.
Mr. Chopra said the the Smart Grid project will put an end to the power woes of the licenced colonies and provide round-the-clock electricity supply.