RE: GCM is a speculative high risk investment5 Apr 2026 18:26
@jamess I understand what you are saying, and yes of course there were protests back in 2006, but what I would say is that at the time these were politically orchestrated, with many people being transported in from outside the area, and was not instigated by the Phulbari people.
If you look back in the Power and Energy magazine, from back in Hasina’s day, (sorry I don’t remember the exact date) there was an in-depth article / interview about Phulbari and open pit mining, which also discussed the compensation package that was being offered to the people of Phulbari for relocation. I can’t remember the figures now, but they were very generous, and the person being interviewed said that the people of Phulbari she had spoken to were all very happy with the package and wanted the mining to go ahead, so I’d assume that opposition is still not there from Phulbari people.
Now moving forward to 2025 / 26, the Interim government back in Feb 2025, said that they were working on an Energy Master Plan, which was to be passed on to the incoming government, so that they could hit the ground running, (their words) saying that using own coal should be given the green light and the then energy minister specifically mentioned Phulbari open pit mining. Then during the BNP election campaign, the now new energy minister stated that they should utilise their coal with open pit mining again being mentioned, which obviously from this week’s article, we now have clarification is what’s going to happen, and during that period of time, there has not been one protest against coal.
As for any future protests, yes, you may be right there may be some opposition, but with everything that is going on in the world right now and a lot of countries, especially in Asia all expanding their use of coal and coal plants, the anti’s argument, right now is really not going to listened to…
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