Coal will remain a reserve forever?
PHOTO: ZAHEDUL I KHAN
The Prime Minister has declared that we will keep our coal reserve for the next generation and will now import coal to generate electricity for our use in Bangladesh. Having attended several ministerial and secretarial meetings on coal policy, I have written in your daily that the forces working against coal mining in Bangladesh is more powerful than that of AL, BNP and JP put together. My write-up 'Buried Treasure' published in your Forum's July 2010 issue explains that we do not have to reinvent the wheel, nor is it rocket-science to formulate a simple 'coal policy' and avert the crisis that faces this country. We have the best coal in the region in terms of density and quality (sulphur content less than 0.04%, compared to 7 to-15% into that imported from India) and in sufficient quantity (energy for 50 years worth more than $150 billion in the current global market). Coal is there to be extracted, yet we are not allowed to do so and successive governments have tried and failed repeatedly. Won't Bangladesh ever be allowed to extract its own coal?
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