Power ministry to invite South Korean cos for Joint Ventures

In a bid to improve the power transmission and distribution scenario in the country, the Union power ministry has invited a delegation from South Korea to visit India in October for exploring possible manufacturing tie-ups with domestic firms.

India's Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) loss, which is a true indicator of total losses in a system, stood at 29 per cent, while that of South Korea's, among the lowest in the world, was at 3.99 per cent, Union minister of state for power Bharatsinh Solanki said.“We would like to learn from them and use their technology. A South Korean delegation will come in October and meet with their Indian counterparts. We would want them (South Korean firms) to manufacture here under joint ventures,” Solanki said on the sidelines of a seminar organised by the Merchant’s Chamber of Commerce.

The delegation is likely to include the South Korean state-owned Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), one of the electricity generation, transmission and distribution firms in the East Asian nation, and meet domestic distribution firms in Delhi and Mumbai, Solanki added.Incidentally, India's external affairs minister S M Krishna is in Seoul at present and the India-South Korea Joint Commission Meet is slated for Friday. “The external affairs ministry and South Korean representatives will meet tomorrow and this issue will be taken up for discussion,” Solanki added.

Between 2001-2006, the Accelerated Power Development &Reform Programme (APDRP) — which aimed at strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution network and reduction in AT&C losses — was able to bring down total losses from 38.86 per cent to 34.54 per cent, according to available data.