Nearly three years have passed, but the UT administration’s ambitious project under the Smart City Mission of converting existing overhead lines to the underground system and replacing infrastructure in Sector 8 is yet to be started.

The planning work on this project had started in January 2017 and the UT had planned to carry out the project after Chandigarh was selected as one of the fast-track cities under the Smart City Mission of the Union ministry of urban development.

However, the UT electricity department has failed to find any bidders for the project on three occasions. A senior UT official said now, they have again floated the tenders and are hopeful of getting positive response this time.

The Joint Electricity Regularity Commission (JERC) have already accorded approval for a capital expenditure of Rs 17.89 crore for the project on a pilot basis.

The department had picked Sector 8, as the existing infrastructure is about five decades old and frequently breaks down, especially during peak summer season.

The project was part of the UT electricity department’s 20-year roadmap for improving power infrastructure in the city.

According to the official record, there are five 33kV sub-stations and thirteen 66kV sub-stations located in different parts of the city. As per the laid down norms, a sub-station has a life span of 25 years. However, around six 66kV sub-stations have crossed their life span and the number of such sub-stations will continue to grow.

To address the problem, the department has prepared a detailed project report (DPR) for the upgradation of infrastructure, which the department plans to execute in a phased manner over the next 20 years at a cost of Rs 2,773 crore.

According to the plan, a total of 12 new 66kV grid sub-stations will be established, while all the existing 66kV sub-stations will be upgraded in the next 10 years. There is a 2,037km overhead transmission line in the city, which will be converted into an underground line.

The department has set a deadline of 10 years for the completion of the work. There is also a plan to install 1,825 new distribution transformers.

The electricity department caters to 2.28 lakh consumers divided into nine different categories. According to the official figures, 1.99 lakh consumers are domestic users, accounting for more than 87% of the overall figure.

Remaining 13% consumers are divided into commercial, small power, medium supply, large supply, bulk supply, public lighting, agriculture power and temporary supply categories.