Dearth of funds, road digging hits PDD’s underground cabling project

The Power Development Department (PDD) is unable to carry out the underground cabling of power lines in the state due to shortage of funds and frequent road digging.

According to officials, the underground cabling has been approved for the tourist areas of Pahalgam, Gulmarg, Sonmarg and Patnitop.

They said the government has not given the clearance for other places across the state in view of shortage of funds and frequent road digging.

The under-ground cabling is cost intensive.

The officials said they have been constrained to start the work in the tourist areas in view of the frequent power thefts.

The per kilometer cost of laying a power distribution line is near Rs 4 lakh. However, in case of underground laying of the lines, the cost will increase by 4 times.  At each of the tourist places, cost of laying the cables would be over Rs 35 crore,” they said.

The officials said the project has been approved for four tourist places and it is for the first time that the underground cabling will be carried out in the state.

“We are in the process of hiring the services of a consultancy firm, which would also work out the savings to be made in the consumption of energy due to the prevention of power theft,” they said.

According to officials, the power lines will be laid through the concrete ducts to prevent their damage. “Under the plan, we will install the high voltage distribution system to prevent the power thefts. Besides, the panel boxes will be installed so that supply of energy is properly accounted for”.

Officials said the work over the cabling will be started shortly and completed by a deadline.

They said the move has been taken up in the wake of major transmission and distribution losses.

“On an average, over 50 per cent transmission and distribution loss is reported in the state due to the power theft and the weak transmission and distribution infrastructure,” officials said.

They said the project will also incur low maintenance and prevent the electrocution incidents. “It is a major project to revamp the infrastructure”.

PDD Chief Engineer B A Khan told KIF that the underground cabling will be started shortly.

“We are in the process of finalizing the bids to roll out the project, which is a landmark initiative,” he said.

Khan said the cabling could later be started in other parts of Kashmir as well.