Staff Reporter :
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will make her government’s stand clear on proposed Rampal Power Project at a press conference today (Saturday).
“She (Sheikh Hasina) will brief media on proposed Rampal Power Project on Saturday afternoon,” Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Ehsanul Karim told The New Nation on Friday.
He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to hold the press conference on the issue at 4:00pm on Saturday at her official residence Gonobhaban in the city.
Earlier on Wednesday, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia at a press conference in the city, termed the proposed Rampal coal-fired power plant project as ‘anti-people, illogical’ and ‘unprofitable’, urging the government to take steps for scrapping it. This is a national issue. It is neither an issue of BNP-Awami League, nor others, she added.
Apart from the political parties, different citizen organisations, rights bodies and environmentalist groups have also been opposing implementation of the proposed 1320 MW Maitree Super Thermal Power Project at Rampal Upazila under Bagerhat district, urging the government to scrap the project immediately.
On July 12, Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (Pvt) Limited (BIFPCL) signed the agreement in the city for Main Plant EPC (Turnkey) Package with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL).
The citizen organisations, rights bodies and environmentalist groups termed the July 12 as a black day in the history of Bangladesh saying if the project is implemented, country’s mangrove Sundarbans would be destroyed once.
About four crore people would be affected if the project is implemented, they warned.
They continued to stage demonstrations in city as elsewhere demanding immediate cancellation of the project.
The climate, topography, land use pattern, wetlands, flora and fauna diversity, capture fisheries tourism and the quality of air and water – both on the surface and underground – in the Sundarbans will be badly affected permanently if the project is implemented, they cautioned.
The Sundarbans is situated about 14 kilometres away from the proposed 1,320-megawatt coal-based power plant site, which is a joint venture of Bangladesh Power Development Board and the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited of India under the name of Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company.
Environment experts warn that the Rampal Power Plant project would bring more harm to the country than good, destroying the Unesco World Heritage site, since the climate, topography, land use pattern, wetlands, flora and fauna diversity and quality of air and water in the Sundarbans would be affected due to the power plant.
They said that they do not want electricity in exchange of Sundarbans.
However, the experts demanded of the government to shift the power plant project to any other suitable place of the country from Rampal adjacent to the world heritage site declared by the UNESCO.
According to India’s EIA [Environmental Impact Assessment] Guideline 2010, no power plant can be built within 25 kilometres of forests but in special cases it said 10 km in permissible. But, the same rule was not followed in Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) and Indian company National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) would invest 15 percent of the total cost each. The rest 70 percent would come in the form of bank loan.
However, Sheikh Hasina repeatedly said that the Rampal coal-based power plant would not cause any harm to the ecology of the Sundarbans and its surrounding areas.
Referring to the present status of a same 500-MW power plant in Boropukuria, Dinajpur, she earlier said, her government during its last stint constructed the first coal-based power plant at Boropukuria.
She urged the crusaders against the Rampal Power Plant to pick those pictures from the websites and see whether these plants would be harmful for Bangladesh.
She is also urging the persons against the power plant to refrain from misguiding people any more.
According to the Prime Minister, the Rampal Power Plant is being constructed on a reclaimed land. The government has so far not taken any project damaging for environment, she said.
Deep forests are available within eight-kilometer of the project site, which is the sanctuary of many wild species including the Royal Bengal Tiger.
According to the government high commands, there are same plants in Denmark and USA where there was detrimental effect of the power plant on nature. In India, a total of 1,86,000-MW power is produced from coal-based power plants.
