Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina again slated those who are opposing the Rampal power plant project and said yesterday that there is no possibility of environmental damage due to the implementation of the project, reports UNB. "The construction site of the plant is around 14 kilometers away from the outer boundary of the Sundarbans and about 70 kilometers away from the world heritage site. It is being set up in Rampal, not in the Sundarbans. So there is no possibility of causing any damage to the Sundarbans," she said.
 The prime minister was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the 57th National Convention of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) at its Chittagong centre.  The theme of the convention this
year is “Digital Technology for Development” while the subject of the National Seminar has been set as “Utilization of Digital Technology for Pro-People Development”.
She also criticised those who are opposing the power plant saying that they never visited the power plant site to get idea regarding the impact on the Sundarbans.
“They are conducting campaign sitting in the capital...they never visited Rampal in their life,” she said. Sheikh Hasina said her government had taken all kinds of measures to protect the environment of the Sundarbans and the surrounding areas as well as to protect the habitat and biodiversity of that region. Referring to the construction of Barapukuria coal-fired power plant in Dinajpur, she said there was no negative impact on the densely populated and green area of Barapukuria though two sub-critical plants were constructed there. The land of the area has become more fertile and more rice is being produced there, she said. Explaining the preventive measures for Rampal Power Plant, she said coal will be transported to the power plant site from the deep sea in covered barges and covered and low-sound engines will be used in the barges. Referring to a recent incident the Prime Minister said a barge with 1000 mts coal sank near the Sundarbans recently, but the environmentalists did not go there for having idea regarding its impact.
“Did the environmentalists conduct any examination about the impact of capsizing of the barge ... they should have visited the site to examine its impact,” she said.
The prime minister urged engineers to complete fast all the development projects undertaken by her government maintaining quality and standard of the works and sought their cooperation to turn Bangladesh into a middle income country by 2021.
Putting emphasis on undertaking projects with proper planning
considering limited lands of the country, she called upon the engineers to work for advancing the country ahead keeping pace with the competitive world.
She urged the engineers to come forward with alternative source of energy and energy saving equipment, innovate strategy and technology to build cost effective houses.
Praising the world standard engineers and education on engineering in Bangladesh, the prime minister said, many of them showed rare talents in their workplace in many developed countries.
Highlighting her government’s various activities of introduction of e-governance in the country, the prime minister said, the engineers can accelerate programmes to build digital Bangladesh associating their talent, thinking and hard work with science and technology.
IEB President Engineer Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan and General Secretary Engineer Mohammad Abdus Sabur spoke on the occasion.
Engineer Sadeque Mohammad Chowdhury, chairman of IEB Centre, Chittagong, delivered the welcome address, while Prabir Sen, general secretary of IEB, Chittagong centre, gave vote of thanks.
President of the IEB Engineer Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan and General Secretary Engineer Abdus Sabur also spoke on the occasion while Chairman of IEB’s Chittagong Centre Engineer Sadie Mohammad Chowdhury gave the welcome address. Earlier, the prime minister distributed IEB Gold Medals to Chairman of Dhaka WASA Engineer Dr Habibur Rahman and Chief Coordinator of the Padma Bridge Construction Engineer Major General Abu Sayed Mohammad Masud for their outstanding contribution to academic and professional category respectively. She also distributed certificates among 83 engineers who passed AMIE in Civil, Mechanical and Electrical engineering courses in 2016. The Prime Minister read out the declaration of recognition and registration of their names as professional engineers. Sheikh Hasina unveiled plaques of the IEB’s new centres in Mymensingh, Bogra, Rangpur and Ashuganj of Brahmanbaria as well as allotted lands at Purbachal in Dhaka, Khulna and Faridpur for new centres while she also laid foundation stone of IEB’s Rangadia Centre through unveiling its plaque.