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Bitter Coal Business or Benefit from Coal
Farid Hossain

As the saying goes, however hard you try you can't clean coal. One thing, however, is certain: you can burn coal to make energy. Or you can burn it for nothing _ may be just for pleasure. According to experts Bangladesh is supposed to have a solid reserve of coal to the north of the country. There is a strong debate whether we should extract the coal and burn it for electricity. Or better to leave it where it is for the generations that will follow us. One school of thought is for extraction of the coal to make electricity that the country so badly needs for industrialization and to reach power to as many homes as possible. This group argues if we want electricity to reach every home or at least majority of homes then we must produce more electricity. If Bangladesh wants to raise its annual economic growth to 7 percent, it will need to add at least 2,000 MW of electricity to the national grid every year. Where the electricity is going to come? We can get electricity from natural gas. In fact we are already making electricity from gas. But gas has a limit. Officials say Bangladesh's natural gas reserve is depleting fast and the country will face a serious crisis by 2011 unless we prospect more gas fields.

This group has opponents. They insist that extraction of coal will take Bangladesh to development. Neither it will benefit the people of Bangladesh. The extraction of coal either at Barapukuria or at Phulbari will benefit only the foreign companies and a handful of local agents. It is better to keep the reserve untouched. This group further argues that extraction of coal will displace thousands of people from their ancestral land and damage agricultural land as well as the environment. Residents of Phulbari have already demonstrated what local resistance can do. They did not hesitate to die for a cause they think is good for them.

People who will be affected by coal mining seem to be helpless as the controversy rages.

At a recent roundtable on the development of coal, organized by Energy and Power magazine and the UNDP, four representatives from Birampur and Dinajpur spoke out. They said they were not opposed to coal mining if that brings benefit to the local people. Villagers who will be affected by the coal mining must be consulted before the government makes any deal with a foreign company. Unfortunately, the government does not always take the locals into confidence before making deals with companies _ foreign or local. That explains why Phulbari exploded into protests that forced Asia Energy to leave the area. The company has since then been waiting for a return to the area. It is uncertain how soon it will be able to get the deal.

Coal is already being extracted at Barapukuria. There is already a coal-fired power plant at the coal mining field, operated by state-run Petrobangla. But its performance has been slow and poor. Also the project had been hit by controversy from the start. The original cost doubled allegedly for corruption. Barapukuria has become a subject of corruption case involving former PM Khaleda Zia and 15 others, including 10 former ministers.

This shows that our experience in coal business has so far been bitter. Such corruption allegations are helping the anti-mining lobby. If the extraction of natural resources benefit only a handful of people _ not the majority of the people _ it is better then to keep them untouched. Resources are not unlimited. There will always come a time when we will run short of the resources no matter how plenty these are. A big problem is: who will give us electricity if we don't explore for gas and coal and use them.