RE: Good for own coal13 Apr 2020 18:25
Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon welcomed the recent announcement by the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources requesting the Economic Relations Division that the proposed 350 MW Gazaria coal plant be dropped.
The Rural Power Company Ltd assessed that it was not feasible to barge imported coal to the site on the Meghna River. It will save RPCL lakhs of taka not to build an about Tk 3600 crore coal plant that could not get enough imported coal to run consistently, the release added.
The decision to cancel a plant dependent on foreign coal will also help the trade imbalance that is now much worse due to COVID-19 impacts on industry and international commerce.
Moreover, now 3 billion dollars in garment manufacturing orders have been cancelled and more than 1 million garment industry workers have been furloughed, power demand will drop dramatically. So there is simply no need to construct the RPCL four-unit Patuakhali coal plant (2640 MW) in Kalapara beside Payra.
BAPA President Sultana Kamal said, “above all, this is the most important fact that cancelling the Patuakhali coal plant will save thousands of lives and give the next generation of Bangladeshi’s a fighting chance to survive COVID 19 and future pandemics.”