Power sector hungry for skilled staff

Fri, Nov 6 01:10 PM

New Delhi, Nov. 5 -- The government's ambitious plans for the power sector could well go off the rails due to a shortage of skilled manpower in the sector. According to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), the advisory body of the power ministry, there is an estimated additional manpower requirement of 10 lakh persons - more than 30 per cent of them skilled workers - in the XI Plan period and 16.6 lakh in the XII Plan period to meet the capacity addition targets of 78,700 mega watt by 2012 and 1 lakh mw by 2017. The CEA feels the situation may well worsen if visa issues affect inflow of labour from overseas. In a recent letter to the power ministry, it said, "At present the shortage of skilled manpower is a major constraint... encountered both by

developers and contractors during implementation of projects."

"We have requested the ministry of power to approve this proposal and make appropriate changes in this regard in the national electricity policy, the tariff policy and the standard bidding documents for award of projects to developers."

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