News
Over the last decade, residents of Maharashtra, India’s second most populous state, faced crippling power shortages, with outages lasting up to 10 hours daily. In an effort to narrow the growing gap between electricity supply and demand, the state launched a multi-pronged plan to produce more electricity and to deliver it more efficiently to consumers.
Maharashtra’s prioritized power transmission investment program was the result of an innovative Public Private Partnership (PPP). Using a strategic-alliance approach, the state government transformed its power company. It is now on track to double its generation and transmission capacity over the next five years by scaling up innovative approaches it has piloted, such as private distribution franchises that have improved commercial and operational efficiency of the power distribution system.
The World Bank Group in partnership with the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) and the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) helped make this a reality by providing both financial and technical assistance to Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Ltd. (MSETCL).
Contact: Kavita Saraswat, Senior Power Engineer, World Bank
Email: esmap@worldbank.org