The energy ministry has finalised the national coal policy, which will be sent to the council of advisers soon for their final nod despite opposition from the law ministry against adoption of it, officials said. ‘We have finalised the coal policy and will place it to the council of advisers for approval very soon,’ Chief Adviser’s special assistant on energy issues Professor M Tamim has told the FE.
Refuting the law ministry’s plea to draft an act instead of a policy to facilitate the process of coal extraction, Professor Tamim said a policy is a broader jurisdiction and deals with a variety of issues like environment, land, mines and minerals. Professor Tamim, however, said the law ministry’s comments on the national coal policy would also be sent to the council of advisers along with the policy for their final nod.
Sources said the law ministry last week recommended adoption of an act instead of a policy pouring cold water on the energy ministry’s years of efforts to get a national coal policy in place. The energy ministry kept investment proposals worth several billion US dollars on hold in last several years on the plea that the proposals would be considered after adoption of the country’s first ever-national coal policy.
Regarding the draft of the national coal policy as finalised by the energy ministry, Professor M Tamim said the policy has no major deviations from the recommendations of the advisory committee headed by former BUET vice chancellor Abdul Matin Patwary. The advisory committee in its report recommended that foreign companies be allowed to develop the country’s coalmines under a joint venture with a local coalmining company.
No foreign companies would be permitted to develop a coalmine independently, the draft of the national coal policy pointed out categorically. As is elsewhere in the world, coalmines in Bangladesh can be developed by applying either the open-pit method or the underground method, the advisory committee suggested. But the mining method should be determined on the basis of the geological structure and the reserve potentials, the committee observed.
A Coal Sector Development Committee comprising professionals from all walks should be constituted for smooth operation of coalmines and other relevant activities. The committee would fix the royalty rate of different coalmines considering mine-specific geological structures instead of the existing mining rules, in which the royalty rate has been fixed at 6.0 per cent for the open-pit mining and 5 per cent for underground mining, it said. The committee also recommended awarding licences for coal exploration from any coalmine through open tenders, though the existing rules say that the licences will be awarded on the first-come-first-served basis.
The government will follow the country’s existing Land Acquisition Act to acquire required land and compensate the displaced people from the mining sites to ensure smooth development of coalmines and its subsequent utilisation, officials said. To address the environmental and social issues, the government might adopt globally-accepted guidelines of ‘equity principles,’ the draft of the national coal policy pointed out. Khani Bangla, an entity under the state-owned Petrobangla, would be given the responsibility to look into the developments relating to coal and other issues relevant to the country’s mines and minerals.
The advisory committee, however, had proposed formation of a separate company named ‘Coal Bangla’ empowering it to monitor the coalmine development activities. There will be no option of coal export other than ‘cocking coal’ in the coal policy. Cocking coal is a kind of coal, especially used in steel manufacturing plants. Setting up a coal-fired power plant at the mine mouth might be made mandatory for developing any coalmine under the national coal policy.
Refuting the law ministry’s plea to draft an act instead of a policy to facilitate the process of coal extraction, Professor Tamim said a policy is a broader jurisdiction and deals with a variety of issues like environment, land, mines and minerals. Professor Tamim, however, said the law ministry’s comments on the national coal policy would also be sent to the council of advisers along with the policy for their final nod.
Sources said the law ministry last week recommended adoption of an act instead of a policy pouring cold water on the energy ministry’s years of efforts to get a national coal policy in place. The energy ministry kept investment proposals worth several billion US dollars on hold in last several years on the plea that the proposals would be considered after adoption of the country’s first ever-national coal policy.
Regarding the draft of the national coal policy as finalised by the energy ministry, Professor M Tamim said the policy has no major deviations from the recommendations of the advisory committee headed by former BUET vice chancellor Abdul Matin Patwary. The advisory committee in its report recommended that foreign companies be allowed to develop the country’s coalmines under a joint venture with a local coalmining company.
No foreign companies would be permitted to develop a coalmine independently, the draft of the national coal policy pointed out categorically. As is elsewhere in the world, coalmines in Bangladesh can be developed by applying either the open-pit method or the underground method, the advisory committee suggested. But the mining method should be determined on the basis of the geological structure and the reserve potentials, the committee observed.
A Coal Sector Development Committee comprising professionals from all walks should be constituted for smooth operation of coalmines and other relevant activities. The committee would fix the royalty rate of different coalmines considering mine-specific geological structures instead of the existing mining rules, in which the royalty rate has been fixed at 6.0 per cent for the open-pit mining and 5 per cent for underground mining, it said. The committee also recommended awarding licences for coal exploration from any coalmine through open tenders, though the existing rules say that the licences will be awarded on the first-come-first-served basis.
The government will follow the country’s existing Land Acquisition Act to acquire required land and compensate the displaced people from the mining sites to ensure smooth development of coalmines and its subsequent utilisation, officials said. To address the environmental and social issues, the government might adopt globally-accepted guidelines of ‘equity principles,’ the draft of the national coal policy pointed out. Khani Bangla, an entity under the state-owned Petrobangla, would be given the responsibility to look into the developments relating to coal and other issues relevant to the country’s mines and minerals.
The advisory committee, however, had proposed formation of a separate company named ‘Coal Bangla’ empowering it to monitor the coalmine development activities. There will be no option of coal export other than ‘cocking coal’ in the coal policy. Cocking coal is a kind of coal, especially used in steel manufacturing plants. Setting up a coal-fired power plant at the mine mouth might be made mandatory for developing any coalmine under the national coal policy.
The Financial Express,Bangladesh
Date: 07/0708
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