Patna, July 27 (IANS) In a bid to attract private investment in the power sector, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Wednesday said the state government will soon go ahead with the restructuring of the Bihar State Electricity Board (BSEB).


"It is a matter of few days before the much-awaited restructuring of the BSEB takes place," Nitish Kumar said while addressing a daylong conference on 'Powering Bihar'.

"Reforms in power sector are necessary to attract private investors," he said.

He assured hundreds of power board officials that their service condition will not be affected by the restructuring.

He said the Bihar government wants to restructure the state-run BSEB into three independent companies to manage the generation, transmission and distribution of power.

Bihar set up an independent State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) a few years ago to initiate power sector reforms.

According to energy department sources, the restructuring was to begin in 2001 but got delayed.

Officials say once the reforms get under way, private investors would come forward as the state has potential for large-scale investments in the sector. The power situation in Bihar has worsened since Jharkhand was carved out of it in 2000.