Environment ministry’s clearance to big infrastructure development projects is not enough to prevent environmental impacts in the surrounding areas, said economist Prof Wahiduddin Mahmud.
He said if the environment is not protected, the projects cannot bring much economic benefits to the country.
“It is not enough to get permission from the environment ministry for taking big infrastructure projects. Sometimes the projects might have negative impacts on the environment of the project areas despite having clearance certificate. This is not even good for economy.”
Prof Mahmud was speaking at the inauguration of a two-day seminar on “accelerating growth and human development” in Dhaka yesterday. Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) has organised the event.
Prof Mahmud, one of Bangladesh’s famous economists, said development in urban areas is sometimes responsible for negative impacts on the environment and thus on the economy.
His remarks came at a time when the government started implementing two big power projects — Rampal Thermal Power Plant and Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.
On Bangladesh’s achievements in MDGs, Wahiduddin Mahmud said Bangladesh has achieved “tremendous success in attaining social indicators set in MDGs, but this success came at a cost of subsidy on some items.”
“We need to set a strategy on how to be successful in SDGs.”
Regarding the recent global move against globalisation system, he said the popularised economic policy is bad for any country. “World economy is going backward due to the recent Brexit and Trump phenomena.”
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal also spoke. He put emphasis on finding a way to tap the maximum benefits of the demographic dividend to accelerate the economic growth.
“We have shown how to succeed in implementing MDGs. We will succeed like MDGs in implementing SDGs too as we have taken a number of projects.”
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
