It is a well known fact that Bangladesh has a large deposit of coal, the lion's share of this natural resource is unexplored. Despite having a huge coal reserve, Bangladesh government is going to import coal from abroad to run Payra Power Plant. According to the projection, the power plant will consume around 40 lakh tonnes of imported coal yearly. Besides, the government has been reported to import coal from India to run Rampal Power Plant. However, such government initiatives throw the fate of 3,392 million tons of coal reserve of five coal mines in the country towards uncertainty.
Although coal is a vital source of energy which is available in our country, there is no comprehensive, steady and long term policy regarding this resource. The government formed 9 committees in the last 12 years to devise a viable coal policy. Later on, the committees submitted their reports to the government but government could not adopt any policy, unfortunately. And that's why this sector is being run on 'trial and error' basis--based on public opinion not logic-without any outcome.
Notably, coal based power plant is one of the cheapest electricity producing means. Although in the developed countries coal based power plants are highly discouraged and are being stopped from operating, in developing countries it is still popular because of cost efficiency. Importing coal from abroad will worsen the coal exploration and extraction in the country. And as a consequence, this sector will face many more impediments and shortfalls in the near future unless we adopt a viable policy.
Despite having huge reserves in different mine fields, coal is being produced commercially only from the Barapukuria coal mine in Dinajpur. Government's decision to use 99 per cent imported coal in power plants added worries to some already developed mine fields. Importing coal is not only a threat to our coal sector but also to our ecosystem, human health as well as economics--since importing coal is expensive.
Rather appallingly, we are still dependent on foreign countries due to our lack of skilled manpower and technological setbacks in exploring and extracting coal as well as other natural resources from mines.
In order to thrive in the coal sector and make the best use of our foreign currency, we should use locally produced coal in power plants primarily and then should use imported coal. And to do so, government must have a clear-cut coal policy and develop our coal fields according to our needs.
