Energy Bangla - Survey on Social, Environmental Impacts of Coal Mining not yet Conducted

Dhaka, Nov 16, 2009 (Energy Bangla): Although coal is getting priority as an alternative to energy sources for the country’s power generation, there has been no actionable decision in this regard by the government in the last nine months since it has taken over, according to experts.
They said even the government is yet to formulate a coal policy urgently needed to deal with the coal sector.
Coal, as an alternative source of fuel, came to the focus as the country has a number of coal mines with a reserve of about 4.5 billion tons, including 2 billion tons recoverable.
According to the experts, the country’s gas reserve will exhaust within the next two decades if there is no new discovery. This fast-depleting gas reserve has prompted the country’s policymakers to go for the coal as the first alternative fuel for power generation.
During the last caretaker government, a high-powered committee, headed by former Vice Chancellor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) Abdul Matin Patwari, prepared a draft coal policy and submitted it to the government.
That was the 6th committee formed by the government in the last 10 years to prepare a coal policy. After submission of that 6th committee report, the caretaker government again formed a review committee to examine the recommendations of the Patwari committee.
After assuming office, the present Awami League government formed another review committee to look into the Patwari committee recommendations.
The recommendations of the latest committee, along with the draft coal policy, were placed before the Prime Minister’s Office for approval.
A presentation was also made for the Prime Minister to inform her about the pros and corns of the proposed coal policy.
The Prime Minister, following the presentation, directed Energy Ministry and Petrobangla to conduct a study on social and environmental impacts of coal mining, particularly the impacts of the open pit coal mining.
Sources said United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) offered US$ 300,000 to conduct the survey. “But, till date, no such study has been conducted in compliance with the PM’s directive,” said an official.
When contacted, Petrobangla Chairman Dr Hossain Monsur told news agency that the PM’s directive was made before he took over as chairman and he has learned about it though newspapers. “I’ve no knowledge more than that about it.”
However, a number of ministers of the present government visited Germany and made their observations and recommendations in favour of open pit mining.
State Minister for Land Mustafizur Rahman Fizar, State Minister for Home Affairs Shamsul Haque Tuku and State Minister for Environment Dr Mahmud Hasan visited Germany to gather knowledge about open pit coal mining and its social and environmental impacts.
Fizar visited Germany when he was in-charge of the Ministry of Environment and Forest while Tuku when he was in-charge of the Ministry of Power and Energy, and Dr. Hasan Mahmud did it recently at the invitation of German donor agency GTZ.
Sources said a leading German power and coal mining company is keen to provide technological support to Bangladesh for extracting coal through open pit mining.
As part of the efforts, the German donor agency has been extending its support to the Bangladesh government.
Meanwhile, the Power Ministry has moved to set up four base load coal-fired power plants at different places of the country as part of a long-term plan to resolve power crisis. Each of the plants’ capacity will be 500-600 MW and these plants will be run through
imported coal.
But experts question how the government can proceed for setting up coal-fired power plants to run those through imported coal instead of taking any decision to extract the country’s own reserve.
Prof Nurul Islam of BUET at a recent seminar here commented that the government does not approve the draft coal policy because of its weakness to a particular foreign company which wants to extract coal through open pit mining, an allegation refuted by State Minister for
Power and Energy Enamul Haque.
He said the government wants to proceed on the basis of national consensus to have a proper coal policy. “That’s why it takes time,” Enamul Haque said.