Incumbents -Awami League Regime need to back out of Rampal power plant deal

[idune]

Incumbents -Awami League Regime need to back out of Rampal power plant deal

THE ongoing debate over the possible impact of a proposed 1,320-megawatt coal-fired power plant at Rampal in Bagerhat on the nearby Sundarban resembles, to a great extent, to the sustained deliberation on the environmental fallout of the Indian plan to construct the Tipaimukh dam on the upstream of the river Barak, which splits into the rivers Surma and Kushiyara as it enters Bangladesh, with the Awami League-led government giving precedence to the views of its Indian counterparts over those of local experts and environmentalists.

According to a report front-paged in New Age on Sunday, local green and rights activists have unanimously dismissed the Indian power secretary’s remark on January 30 that the thermal power plant, proposed to be installed within nine miles of the world’s largest mangrove forest, by an Indian private-sector firm under a memorandum of understanding it signed with the Bangladesh government in August 2010, would have ‘very little impact on the environment’. The green and rights activists fear that the emission and noise to be generated by the proposed plant would result in the extinction of several animal and plant species. Moreover, a committee of environmental experts, as quoted by one of them, has said that the carbon emitted by the planned power plant will affect the biodiversity and pollute water, thereby ultimately damaging Sundarban.

It is true that Bangladesh is starved for energy and may ultimately need to espouse coal-powered electricity generation. However, the obvious question is why the government has agreed on a site so close to Sundarban. The answer seems to lie in the alleged asymmetry of benefits to be had by India and Bangladesh.

According to the member-secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, Professor Anu Muhammad, as quoted in the New Age report, the deal stipulates that the Indian company will bear only 15 per cent of the production cost but get 50 per cent of the electricity generated. Given that the deal is so clearly tilted in India’s favour, it is perhaps easy to explain the site selection — the proposed site is closer to India. In such circumstances, it is only expected that the Indian political establishment and bureaucracy would try to underplay the project’s environmental consequence for Bangladesh. What is, however, shocking—but perhaps not surprising—is the apparent acquiescence of the AL-led government to the whims and wishes of its Indian counterparts.

Ever since their assumption of office in January 2009, the incumbents have persisted with the claim of having turned a corner in the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and India.

Regrettably, however, they have appeared either unable, if not unwilling, to secure the best deal for Bangladesh in bilateral negotiations with India — be it on trade and commerce, sharing of trans-boundary river, border dispute and whatever have you.


The Rampal power plant looks headed to be another Tipaimukh dam in terms of devastating environmental and ecological impact on Bangladesh, that too, with visible collusion of the AL-led government.

It is imperative under such circumstances that conscious sections of society on both sides of the border raise their voice in protest against the Rampal power project and force their respective governments to back out; after all, the consequence of damage or destruction of Sundarban will be direly felt by the people of both the countries.

Incumbents need to back out of Rampal power plant deal

 

[idune]

RAMPAL POWER PLANT IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT

Experts trash Shankar’s claim

Staff Correspondent

Green and rights activists on Saturday protested Indian power secretary’s recent remark that the proposed coal-fired power plant in Bagerhat near the Sundarban would have ‘very little impact on the environment’. Indian power secretary P Uma Shankar made the remark to journalists after visiting the site of the proposed 1,320 megawatt plant at Rampal on January 30.

Environmentalists said setting up the thermal power plant by a private Indian company under a memorandum of understanding signed between Dhaka and the Indian company in August 2010 was against the fundamental state policy laid out in Article 18A of the constitution.

They vowed to continue with their movement in demand of relocating the proposed plant to a place away from the Sundarban as it posed a threat to national resources, biodiversity, wetlands, and wildlife of the world’s largest mangrove forest. Environment experts also said the emission and noise of the plant would also cause extinction of some animal and plant species. In his reaction, National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power, and Ports member secretary Anu Muhammad termed the power deal unequal and non-transparent.

According to the deal, the Indian company will bear only 15 per cent of the production cost but get 50 per cent of the electricity generated, he pointed out. Besides, he said, the unit price of power to be produced by the proposed plant was yet to be set and the Indian company would lead the project management.As the project site is just nine kilometres from Sundarban, it will affect the forest, said Anu, referring to the opinion of an environmental expert committee led by Abdus Satter Mandol.

The amount of carbon emitted by the plant will affect the biodiversity and pollute water, thus destroying the Sundarban, the committee said. The project was laid out without any feasibility study and assessment, said Anu, a professor of economics at Jahangirnagar University. The national committee has already announced a three-day long-march from Khulna to Rampal via Bagerhat on March 9-11 to create pressure on the government to cancel the project, he said.

As the proposed plant will run on coal, India will benefit the most from it, environmentalist Nur Mohammad told New Age.
Paribesh Bachao Andolon, (Save the Environment) Bangladesh chairman Abu Naser Khan said that they would continue movement in various forums as the construction of the power plant in any form would pose serious threat to the Sundarbans.
There will be no existence of the Sundarbans and animals in the forest due to smokes, sound to be generated by the power plant, said Naser Khan.

Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan general secretary Mohammad Abdul Mati said the government had taken contradictory positions on the Sundarban by campaigning for electing it as one of the seven natural wonders of the world and planning installation of the plant near the forest.Consumers’ Association of Bangladesh energy adviser M Shamsul Alam said developed countries were no longer approving coal-fired power plant projects considering their impact on the environment.

The experts were also critical of the bilateral agreement to set up hydro-power plants in India’s north-eastern states as joint-venture initiatives of Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company.They apprehend that dams required for running such plants would dry up the common rivers downstream.

Experts trash Shankar?s claim