The 50:50 joint venture firm would start work from April 2, 2013 to speed up the process of supplying power from generation plants.

Speaking on the occasion Power Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav said the state would get 4,500MW of power by June 2015. There was a problem of transmission, which would now be taken care of by Bihar Grid Company Ltd.

He said the state would receive around 8,000 MW, including the central sector allocation, by the end of 2016-17 and added that the government is working on all three fronts––generation, transmission and distribution.

Reports said Bihar State Power Holding Company could only replace 15,500 km to 16,000 km of transmission lines till date against the dilapidated 72,000 km in the state.

According to the chairman-cum-managing director of Power Grid Corporaytion, R N Nayak, it is expected that about 6,000 MW of power would be available in the state from various sources by the end of the 12th Five-Year plan. He added that the transmission of this amount would require wide networks and enhanced distribution system, which would include creation of new grid sub-stations and transmission lines.

Nayak said the timely and targeted execution of the work is essential to meet the target of electrification of villages.

The joint venture would be run on a BOOM (built, operate, own and maintain) scheme at an estimated cost of Rs 6,300 crore.

The executive director of PGCIL, Arun Kumar, said the projected per capita power consumption of Bihar would be 660 units against the national average of 1,275 units in 2016-17. The present per capita consumption is 127 against the national average of 812.

The MoU was signed by executive director of PGCIL Arun Kumar and MD of Bihar State Power Transmission Co Ltd T T Jha.

The joint venture will also take on the generation-linked scheme which included transmission system for evacuation of power from Lakhisarai, Pirpainti and Buxar generation projects.