Patna, July 20: Energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav today said the worst in power sector in Bihar was over and from 2012 things would look up.

“The state has moved ahead in transmission and distribution of power. But we lag behind in generation,” he said, replying to a debate on a supplementary budgetary demand of over Rs 108 crore for the current financial year.

The demand was passed in the absence of the Opposition MLAs, who boycotted the second-half of the proceedings protesting against the alleged Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority land scam.

During the three-hour debate on the power scenario in the state, Yadav rattled out the names of the ongoing power projects. He declared that by 2013-14 Bihar would have an installed power generation capacity of over 1,000MW with the thermal projects in Kanti (440MW) and Barauni (5,000MW).

“The thermal plant in Navinagar would give the state 10 per cent of its 2000MW production. Since it is a joint venture of the railway, we would be saving around 250MW we are currently compelled to give to the railway,” Yadav said.

The minister said approval was being sought from the Centre for three more thermal plants in the state. By 2014, private players would supply Bihar around 450MW power, he added.

Yadav said chief minister Nitish Kumar spoke about Bihar being a major beneficiary of 1500MW hydel project during his Bhutan visit. The minister also said the Centre had assured the state that it would benefit from another power project being constructed in Arunachal Pradesh. He said that the Bihar State Electricity Board had also signed MoUs with other companies for power supply.

The minister said the state was on the verge of taking giant steps in the field of non-conventional energy and has aimed at producing 30MW from biomass. “

“Power sector is not an area where you get immediate results. But from the next year the efforts made by us would begin to show,” he said.