Also Read- Hasina lays down gauntlet to Al Gore in Davos
“Up until last year, Bangladesh was the fastest deploying nation of solar power… two systems per minute, night and day, 24 hours… that has now slowed down... there is a new plan to build a dirty coal plant in the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world, the last remaining tiger preserve," he told the prime minister. “My advice would be, don't build that dirty coal plant but double down on a more renewable source of energy," he added. The prime minister replied saying the project was completely safe for the Sundarbans and that certain groups were creating “unnecessary issue” over the power plant. She also invited Gore to visit the project and see for himself whether it has adverse effects on the Sundarbans. In his letter, dated February 2, 2017, Annisul elaborated on the prime minister's points defending the controversial project. The Dhaka Tribune obtained a copy of the letter. The mayor said Bangladesh believes in the global cause of preserving the environment as much as the US, and has taken some initiatives to that end. Bangladesh formed its own Climate Change Trust Fund under the initiative of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2009, and created the Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (IDCOL) to promote green energy which has developed an innovative sustainable model for providing Solar Home System (SHS) to underprivileged people of the remote and off-grid areas, he added.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with former US vice-president Al Gore, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, HSBC CEO Stuart Gulliver and Cofco Agri CEO Jingtao Chi at a plenary session titled 'Leading the Fight against Climate Change' on the sidelines of the 47th Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January, 2017 PIDHe also mentioned that Bangladesh has kept its carbon footprint at the minimum – 0.4MT per capita per annum – while the same for member countries of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is 20MT – 50 times more than that of Bangladesh.
“On the issue of energy, one needs to clarify that while the OECD countries' per capita electricity consumption is at 10,000kWh, Bangladesh's per capita generation stands at a mere 470kWh (although access has increased from 47% in 2009 to around 80% now by sharing the meager power equitably),” Annisul said.
“In its development journey, the country now targets to provide electricity to all by 2021. For this it needs generation capacity of 24,000MW. Also, to achieve SDGs, it needs 39,000MW by 2030.”
However, there are some limitations that Bangladesh faces when trying to increase power generation, he added.
With the natural gas reserve depleting, as well as the lack of exploitable sources to produce hydro-electricity and the high cost of nuclear power technology, coal is the only option for power generation in Bangladesh in the long run, he explained.
“While the average coal usage of the world stands at 41%, Bangladesh has so far been generating only 2.5% electricity through coal. While the biggest emitters of carbon happen to be the developed world, quite ironically, Bangladesh with a coal-based power plant project in Rampal, has come under fire from a celebrity like you, oblivious of the dire straights [sic] that we are in,” the letter reads.
Annisul further said the criticism of the project was not substantiated with facts.
He explained that the plant at Rampal would use a proven ultra supercritical technology – the best in the world. Furthermore, the World Heritage (Unesco) boundary – done at the initiative of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina – is 69.6km south of the project site. The Sundarbans boundary is a minimum 14km south of the plant, with the wind flow direction acting as a natural shield, he added.
A law enforcer charges baton on a protester at an anti-Rampal programme in Chittagong on February 25, 2017 Dhaka TribuneMoreover, he said, there is an active Ash Management System that will capture 99.99% of the fly ash, and the plant will have technologies to remove by-products like sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide. The project will generate limited to no noise outside the boundary and prevent thermal pollution of the river water by adopting a closed cycle cooling system.
“To top it all, 500,000 trees have been planted, which will contribute towards developing a green belt,” he added.
Annisul also drew comparison with other countries by naming some of the power plants in operation that were commissioned near parks, towns and riverbanks: for example, Jinnah Power Plant near a mangrove forest in Malaysia, Zolling Power Station right next to AmperNatura 2000 in Germany, and a 1,200MW power plant and a 600MW power plant located within 6km of Halong Bay in Vietnam, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site.More to Read- Rampal: A layman’s perspective
“If one were to take an objective look at the Rampal coal based 2x660MW power plant, it would be easy to reconcile with the fact that Sundarbans have been receding for years because of human pressure on limited land. The plant offers more growth opportunities for the region and will reduce dependence of the local people on Sundarbans for livelihood,” the DNCC mayor said in the letter. He said the answer to sustainable development must be based on fairness and objectivity. “Considering the position of Bangladesh as low emitter of carbon, there should not be any doubt about Rampal being the answer to Bangladesh's energy needs. Since the project has also gone through due diligence with the completing of EIA study and the approval process, and since the project complies with all the international prerequisites, Rampal should not at all be opposed; rather Rampal should be considered as a mark of sustainable development in Bangladesh with clean coal technology.” Annisul ended the letter with an invite to Gore to visit Bangladesh and Rampal power plant site.
