Maharashtra Regulatory Commission invited comments and suggestions on the application for grant of Transmission Licence to the Kharghar-Vikhroli Transmission Private Limited (KVTPL). KVTPL was selected on the basis of competitive bidding to complete the capital works planned to import power into Mumbai including a 400 kV Receiving Station at Vikhroli and associated incoming 400 kV lines for strengthening of mumbai transmission system. The project has been facing inordinate delays since its initial approval in 2011 when TPC-T was executing the project. The project was subsequently awarded to M/s Adani Transmission Limited on 12th December 2019 based on competitive bidding. The subsidiary of M/s Adani Transmission Limited, Kharghar Vikhroli Transmission Private Limited (KVTPL), has filed this petition for grant of transmission licence.

Completion of the project will benefit consumers in Mumbai as will reducing power procurement cost, increasing reliability and promoting open access and captive consumption for Mumbai consumers. Given the time-sensitive nature of the project and delays faced in the past were associated with acquring land and statutory clearances from various authorities. Based on available documents it seems that the present petition by KVTPL does not clearly outline status of clearances and land acquisition and RoW issues. It also does not outline potential areas for delay and compressed/ revised schedule for delays that have already taken place.

As the project is critical and as the Commission has re-iterated the need for continous monitoring our suggestion is that the petitioner should submit details of :

• land parcels where issues with land acquisition, sale and right-of-way related disputes are present;
• statutory clearances that have been obtained and those that are pending;
• revised / compressed schedule with timelines for associated works and intermediate milestones

Without such details, the Commission should not grant a licence to KVTPL. Such details should also be detailed in the order for transperancy and future reference.

In addition, the Commission should direct the STU and KVTPL to upload the following reports, in a publicly accessible manner, on their website:

• quarterly progress reports on project execution including time slippage from target timelines with reasons
• monthly reports on status of all statutory clearances/approvals required and pending land acquisition