Rampal dialogue inconclusive
Environmental activists
strongly argue that the
proposed location of the plant would violate
provisions of the Ramsar Convention - to which Bangladesh is a signatory
Being a part of the ongoing process for saving the Sundarbans, the meeting between green activists and the governments relevant authorities had once again ended inconclusively last Sunday. Both parties must understand, sticking to their own guns wont resolve any problems. Though the state minister for power and energy had promised to hold further talks with environmentalists but is there actually any environmental issue that can be negotiated at the cost of compromising the most important forest and heritage of the country?
The power and energy ministry had arranged the meeting aiming to remove some misconceptions about the coal-fired power plant project. It even tried to persuade by stating why Rampal had been selected as the project location for strategic and prudent power distribution. Whatever their efforts may be, with the government the problem has mainly been to prioritize what comes first to preserve the countrys largest mangrove forest or if it should setup a power plant. However, the fact is power plants can be established or removed but there is only Sundarbans. If thats destroyed there wont be another one.
The Sundarbans has life in numerous intertwined organic chains. When a chain is broken the entire natural process is disrupted, and in times of rapid deforestation and climate change we dont want that to happen.
More importantly, environmental activists strongly argue that the proposed location of the plant would violate provisions of the Ramsar Convention - to which Bangladesh is a signatory. It is an international environmental treaty for the conservation of wetlands. To add more, the Sundarbans is on Ramsars top positions of wetlands of international importance.
Regarding the need for power, it is also true that power consumption in the southern region of Bangladesh has shot up disproportionately. We, however, expect the ongoing dialogue to focus more on an alternative location for the setting up of the power plant. They however, shouldnt be inconclusive leading towards an unworkable impasse.
On one hand the environment ministry is reported not to have yet given the environmental clearance to the project while on the other, the plant construction authorities are carrying out the primary stages of works ignoring that. The point is if the environment ministry finally refuses to give the clearance, what will then happen to the proposed project?
Lastly, taking various hidden costs into account the globally renowned, Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (EEFA) estimation the cost of electricity generation from the Rampal coal-fired power plant would be 62 per cent higher than current average generation cost in Bangladesh. Against the reality of potential environmental hazards and excessive power price we want the government to seriously re-consider its Rampal project. Therefore, put an end to the disputed project.
