Interactive Session on Power Sector in Kerala 1500 Hrs: 08 May 2012: Hotel Taj Gateway: Kochi Confederation of Indian Industry, (CII) Kerala organized an Interactive Session on Power Sector in Kerala at The Gateway Hotel, Kochi. The Session was inaugurated by Mr Aryadan Mohammed, Hon’ble Minister for Power, Government of Kerala. The objective of this session was to discuss the current Power scenario in the state and highlight Industry woes owing to the recently introduced Electricity reforms and restrictions imposed by Kerala State Electricity Board.
The event was well attended by major Industrialists from around Kerala who interacted directly with the Minister regarding their issues during the session. The other speakers for this session included ; Mr P Valsaraj, Director, Agency for Non Conventional Energy and Rural Technology; Mr Umang Patodia, CHAIRMAN, Taskforce on Power, CII Kerala State Council and Managing Director, Patspin India Ltd; Mr V V Satyarajan, Chief Engineer, Distribution-Central, KSEB & Mr K K M Kutty, Past Chairman, CII Southern Region & Managing Director, Sealings & Jointings Ltd. Mr Aryadan Mohammed, during his inaugural address commented on the impressive performance of the Power Sector in Kerala over the past few years when compared to neighboring states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
He also opined that he was aware of the problems being faced by the Industry here in Kerala and that he was looking into the matter. Mr Mohammed also urged the Industrialists to looks at alternate sources for Power Generation such as Hydel and Wind Energy as he saw tremendous potential in these in the coming decade. The Minister also pointed out the fact that the tariff rates in Kerala was much less compared to the other states and in order to meet Industry demands and requirements, the Power sector in Kerala is in need of urgent budgetary assistance. Mr Umang Patodia, spoke about the current Power situation in the state highlighting the energy requirement and the demand/supply chain in Kerala.
Mr Patodia stressed on the importance of development of Hydel energy projects in the state as Kerala heavily depended on Hydel resources. He also spoke about high scope and potential of establishing small/mini hydel plants that could have a capacity to generate almost 6000 MW of Electricity. Speaking on behalf of the Industrialists, Mr Patodia pointed out to the Minister that there were many Industrialist in the state itself who were willing to invest on large scale in the Power sector, if there were more favorable conditions enticing and attracting investment. Mr Patodia also spoke about the ever rising employee costs of KSEB which have escalated almost 400% in the past decade and suggested the Minister to freeze further hiring in KSEB. There was also a suggestion from the Industrialists to transform KSEB into a company and commercialize its operations. Before concluding Mr Patodia also stressed on the importance of providing incentives to HT Consumers for converting to EHT and requested KSEB to take steps to make this process hassle-free and a quick for the Industrialists.
Mr Najeeb Zackeria, on behalf of CREDAI, builders association requested the Minister to look into the matter of long delays in obtaining Power Connections for their projects. Chief Engineer, KSEB, Mr Satyarajan, has agreed to look into the problems put forwarded by the members and provide feedback regarding the same to the Minister. Managing Directors and CEO’s from leading Industries across Kerala took part in this Interactive Session with the Minister. Some of the Companies represented were; Apollo Tyres, Carborundum, Harrisons Malayalam, Taj Hotels, Le Meridien, Sud Chemie. Binani Zinc, TVS & Sons, UST Global, Arbitron, Eastern etc. This session was organized by CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) as roadmap towards the upcoming ‘Emerging Kerala 2012 – Biennial Global Connect.’ Emerging Kerala will focus on 14 Core sectors related to Kerala model and its development and Power is one sector which CII sees huge scope for Development and Potential