The government has reportedly not been extracting from the coal reserves in the country’s north-western regions, as it wanted to export the indigenous coal which had a higher calorific value.
“The calorific value of Bangladeshi coal is higher than any other coal imported from other countries. So we want to use these imported coal for power generation instead of ingenious coal,” Secretary of Energy and Mineral Resources Division Md Abu Bakar Siddique told a seminar, organised by the Power Division to mark the National Electricity Week at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre yesterday.
“We will be more financially benefited by exporting our coal. So we should think how to extract and export... If we would be able to manage coal in a minimum rate then we will bring it from Indonesia or even the moon,” State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan said.
Bangladesh has coal reserves of about 3.3 billion tonnes comprising five deposits at depths of 118-1158 meters.
Commenting on the controversial Asia Energy Corporation, Abu Bakar said: “Asia Energy Corporation has no valid contract to extract coal with us in the country. The company had a deal to conduct feasibility study which was done much earlier.”
Locals in Dinajpur – with the support of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports – have been demonstrating for the past few years against Asia Energy’s bid to conduct open pit mining at the Phulbari coal mine.
On another note, the secretary said: “The Institute of Water Modelling has recently conducted water modelling and hydro-geological survey at the Barapukuria site to determine the flow of underground water required for extracting coal through open-pit mining method.
“They have submitted their final report. We are now evaluating it,” he added.
Meanwhile, Md Abul Kalam Azad, senior secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office, said: “The government is actively thinking how to extract coal under the new method of coal bed methane (CBM).”
Also speaking at the programme, Power Division Secretary Monowar Islam said: “We have been emphasising on food security to save land. So we do not extract domestic coal. We want to preserve our own resources like coal for the future.”
Presenting the keynote paper, Summit Group Chairman Muhammed Aziz Khan said: “The abilities of the private sector have been well proven in the last five years when they have added more than 2500MW in the national grid.
“Bangladesh has shortage of natural gas, yet natural gas is the most suitable primary energy for generating electricity... Bangladesh’s indigenous private sector needs to be involved to enhance the supply of natural gas,” he said.
“Yet another challenge is financing approximately $40bn in the next 15 years; investment that is necessary to generate, transmit and distribute an additional 28,000MW of electricity,” Aziz Khan added.
