In 2013, the inhabitants of Gondamara Union in Banshkhali coastal area were asked to sell their land to S Alam Group for a manufacturing plant, with the assurance that they would get jobs there.
The firm started procuring land the same year and has so far bought around 600 acres – but to implement the construction of a 1,224MW coal-based power plant in the area which is home to some 45,000 people, mostly salt and shrimp farmers.
The plant authorities have built boundary walls and put signboards to mark the project area. They have brought machinery for land filling and dredging work, and are now working to build a helipad.
S Alam Group joined hands with SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Corporation of China in December 2013 to construct the power plant.
The locals who sold their land for the manufacturing plant thought that the firm would build a garment factory in the area.
But in February this year they came to know that S Alam Group was actually planning to build a power plant. The former union parishad chairman, Liakat Ali, at a religious event, showed the locals a video describing the possible impacts of a coal-fired power plant on the surrounding area.
For the villagers, it came as a bolt from the blue.
On February 16, the government signed power purchase agreements with two private joint ventures led by S Alam Group to buy electricity from the proposed power plant, which is set to commence in November 2019. The project will require an investment of $2.4 billion of which $1.75 billion will come from Chinese lenders.
Villagers and local administration officials said that the plant authorities had not taken any measures in the past three years to convince them about the power plant. There was a hush up tendency.
Locals and environment experts have questioned the project alleging that the plant authorities are working on the project and acquired land without getting an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report approved by the Department of Environment (DoE).
S Alam Group has secured approval only for the Terms of Reference, which too was done without the consultation of local DoE officials.
The government officials first sat with the locals on February 24.
A peace rally was held at Gondamara Bazar on March 23 in presence of the UNO, ASP and OC, and attended by around 30,000 people of the area. They asked the government to exclude the crowded areas while implementing the power plant project.
Even the local Awami League lawmaker, Mostafizur Rahman, on March 25 assured the locals that he would raise their demands in the parliament. But he later told the Banshkhali locals that the coal plant must be built in Gondamara.
On March 28, the Banshkhali UNO along with the law enforcers sat in a meeting with the people of Gondamara to discuss the power plant issue. At the meeting, the UNO invited Chittagong University teachers Professor Mohammed Mahfuzur Rahman and Dr SM Rafiqul Alam to make them understand the positive aspects of the power plant.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Prof Mahfuz expressed his doubts about whether S Alam Group would be able to maintain minimum emission of toxic gases, fly ash and smoke.
“The concept of massive coal-based power plants is completely new in Bangladesh. It will emit a huge amount of fly ash, radiate heat and use a lot of water. Moreover, the gas emitted from the power plant will affect the people, crops and fishes in the surrounding area,” he said.
The nearby Kutubdia Channel is a breeding ground for hilsha fish.
“Mitigating the emission is a big challenge. The plant will not be harmful if they can refine the fly ash and use it in their cement factory. Moreover, to control the emission of carbon dioxide, there must be enough trees and water.”
Prof Mafiz said that he was not convinced of the capacity of the plant authority in dealing with the technical issues. It is also not clear in their proposal how they will manage accidents.
He wondered how the company initiated the project without conducting any assessment.
“Moreover, the firm and the government needed to start discussing the project with the locals much earlier,” he said.
“Whereas developed countries like Japan, Germany, USA and China are closing down their coal-based projects, why are we going to start such plants?” he asked.
On April 7, the Dhaka Tribune contacted Mujibul Huq of the Centre for Environmental and Geographical Information Services (CEGIS), a public trust under the Water Resources Ministry that prepared the EIA for the power plant project.
He said that the EIA would cover counter arguments of the locals, displacement and related issues. Then the technical committee of the DoE would approve the EIA after tight scrutiny.
However, Md Makbul Hossain, a DoE director of Chittagong Division, said that the head office had approved the ToR in 2014 without consulting the Chittagong office whereas the project authorities are yet to get a site clearance.
Coal-based power plants are considered a red category industry.
The plant authorities will have to ensure that the project will not harm the locals and the environment to get a environment clearance.
“So you should talk to the DoE head office as they are dealing with the project,” Makbul told the Dhaka Tribune.
Under environmental laws it is mandatory to get the EIA approved and secure a site clearance before starting the construction work.Sweet pledgesBack in 2013, officials of S Alam Group visited the area and informed locals that they were planning to set up a manufacturing plant and a jetty. They lured the people into selling their land saying that the project would create huge employment opportunities for them.
Mohammad Islam, who has already sold nine kani (360 decimals) of land to S Alam, said: “During that time, they assured us of jobs at the manufacturing plant and bought our land at Tk8 lakh per kani which is higher than the market price.
“But later we refused to leave our land after learning that they will build a coal-fired plant which will harm the livelihood of the people.”
He said that the plant authorities had deployed some middlemen to buy the lands from the villagers, many of whom alleged that they were not given the pledged amount. Some land owners said that the brokers had taken away the land deeds and were yet to pay the money.
Mohammed Khasen, who has sold 7.5 kani land, said that the plant authorities were yet to pay him Tk2.5 lakh. “Everyone wants development in the area but if it destroys our fishing projects we obviously will protest against the coal power plant.”
Zafar Ahmed, a physically challenged villager, said that he had given his land deeds to a middleman named Hazi Naksa Miya to sell 3 kani of his land. But the broker neither paid him the money nor returned him the documents.
The local union parishad office says there are around 14,000 salt farmers and 10,000 fishermen living in the project area.
Some fishermen and salt farmers said that they were worried about losing their livelihoods. Earlier they were told that no one would lose their professions while many others would get jobs at the manufacturing plant.
Locals said more than 1,000 families live within a two-kilometre periphery of the proposed project site.
S Alam Group, however, claims that there are only 150 families living in the adjacent areas.
Assistant Manager of the project Abdul Hannan said that they would build the plant using modern technologies so that the environment is not affected. To mitigate the emission of smoke, the project will build a 90-storey chimney system.
At the project office, the Dhaka Tribune reporter found two locals who had sold their land for the project. They had been brought there to talk to journalists in favour of the project.
One of them, Jahirul Islam, said: “No environmental hazard will take place if the power plant is built here. We the local people will get employment opportunities.”
When contacted, S Alam’s Chief Finance Officer Subrata Kumar Bhowmick said that they could not sit with the locals who are opposing the plant. “But as the government has sought 15 days to reach a decision on the matter, we will try to reach all the locals and address their concerns.
“If we fail, we will relocate the plant to Chokoria, the previous location of the project,” the official said.
On Thursday, State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid hinted that the government would not have any objection and would rather cooperate if S Alam Group wanted to shift the power plant to any other location.
At least four protesters were killed and 30 others sustained injuries on Monday afternoon when law enforcers obstructed several thousand locals from holding a rally at Gondamara and supporters of S Alam Group allegedly launched an attack with firearms on the agitators.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
