Mahavitaran to engage consultants for expansion plan

MUMBAI: Mahavitaran, the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company, has decided to hire the services of project management consultants for speedy implementation of its ambitious infrastructure development plan entailing an investment of Rs 14,314.8 crore.

The firms that have been engaged are Louis Berger Group, Feedback Ventures, Consulting Engineering Services, KR Bedmutha and Techno Associates in joint venture with Unison Project Management. These entities will help the MahaVitaran to complete its development plan efficiently, said Sanjay Bhatia, MD, MahaVitaran.

The MahaVitaran has prepared a comprehensive five year plan outlining its tasks clearly, he said. The work proposed in the first phase is of a massive scale both in terms of physical quantities and in terms of financial outlay that will be undertaken for completion on turnkey basis as a part of the implementation strategy, Mr Bhatia said.

He also informed about over all rise in the company’s revenue with transmission and distribution losses coming down significantly. According to him, the distribution losses last year were 31.4% which have come down to 28% in the year ‘05-06.

This has helped MahaVitaran mop up more revenue. “Our monthly collection has crossed Rs 1,400 crore from the pre-restructuring figure of Rs 900 crore,” he said.

“Barring a few grey areas in the state, distribution losses are gradually declining due to various measures undertaken. No technology allows drastic reduction in the T&D losses,” he said while reacting to ET report about the rising transmission losses.