Chamber leaders see coal as only option to resolve power crisis

Business leaders of different chamber bodies of northern districts at a discussion in the city urged the government Monday to move to develop the Phulbari coal mine without any further delay, reports UNB.

They saw the huge coal reserve at the Phulbari coal mine as the only option now to deal with future energy crisis, particularly in power generation. “We can easily produce 3,500MW of electricity from the coal to be extracted from the Phulbari mine,” said Rangpur Chamber president Mostafa Azad Chowdhury. He said that as the country’s gas reserve was depleting fast, coal was becoming the only option for power generation.
Greater Rangpur-Dinajpur Industry-Business Development Forum organised the discussion on “Industrialisation in Rangpur-Dinajpur: Energy Availability” at a city hotel. Forum president and former Board of Investment (BoI) executive chairman Nazrul Islam presided over the meeting, where former PDB member Fazlul Haque presented the keynote paper. Former lawmakers Mizanur Rahman Manu and Asaduzzaman Noor, leaders of eight chambers of the northern districts - Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Gaibandha, Panchagarh and Jaipurhat - also spoke at the function.
The speakers, supporting the open pit mining at Phulbari coal mine as it provides more than 80 per cent extraction of resources, urged the government to ensure proper compensation to those who would be affected by development of the mine. “The authorities concerned have to ensure that the affected people would be properly compensated and rehabilitated,” said former LGED chief engineer Monwar Hossain Chowdhury.

The Financial Express, Bangladesh
Date : 27/08/08
Link: http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.info/search_index.php?