THE country desperately needs diversity of fuel sources for power generation as the government plans to generate 11,000 MW of electricity based on coal-fired energy within the year 2030. Estimates suggest it will require approximately 33 million tonnes of coal that may be extracted from local coalmines. This is one aspect of the pressing power generation issue at a time when the gas supply is preventing more power plants based on gas-fired energy to come into being . On the other hand, the government has decided not to go for coal mining from any new fields apparently not to make hostile the left leaning political groups which are opposed to open pit mining on environmental grounds. The question is then how to overcome the demand for more coal, particularly for the 1320 MW Rampal power plant at Bagerhat which is to be run on coal-fired energy. It appears that we are going to import coal from India for the plant. But questions remain how to run other coalfired plants. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has told parliament few days back that she does not favour coal- mining at this moment to save land for promoting food security.
Media reports said if local coal-mining does not flourish import dependence on India may only rise. To face the problem, the authorities are reported to have asked Petrobangla to expedite the setting up of the country’s first floating Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in the off-shore waters. Simultaneously, it is trying to discover new gas fields, besides importing coal and waiting at the same time for new technology to mine coalfields with environment friendly devices. Meanwhile, the government is also planning to explore the possibility of taking some coal-fields on lease abroad to import coal at reduced cost.
We know the country is currently lifting coal from Barapukuria coal-mine in Dinajpur while it also plans to go for lifting coal from Phulbari field using the open-pit mining method. But the problem is that strong opposition exists based on environmental grounds and a lack of national consensus. Otherwise the country has enough coal to met the power plants requirement to a large extent. Meanwhile, the presence of an international company in Dhaka over the past years to take up mining has added new suspicions on many grounds to many quarters. The situation has become complex after the bloody clashes and the deaths of some people at Phulbari in the past to force the government to withdraw the company from the field.
As we see Bangladesh can’t waste more time to get prepared to arrange additional energy sources to run more power plants in one hand and go for environment friendly mining on the other. The controversy over the Rampal coal fired plant closer to the Sundarbans is adding new dimensions to the issue. We urge the government to sort out these issues on a national consensus basis. There can’t be any best choice but the least risky one for the coal mining method must be chosen. We must go for it. Moreover import of LNG and new exploration of gas may help to mitigate the problem to a large extent.
