Coal conundrum stages a comeback

The sheer folly of the country's master plan on the power sector that had envisaged generation of thousands of megawatts using coal as primary fuel was evident right from the beginning. It was considered a folly primarily due to the fact that the previous government had decided that it would not utilise its own coal reserves and embark on an import-only policy. Well, the year is now 2024, and the country's present government is stuck with the very expensive Matarbari power plant project that has been built with Japanese loans and it is out of production due to shortage of coal.

Experts at the time had stated that this import-dependent policy to source primary energy raw material was fraught with danger. First, it would put Bangladesh at the mercy of foreign coal producers and suppliers. Second, the infrastructure to handle the millions of tonnes of coal that would have to be imported did not exist and would have to be built from scratch. Hence, millions more would have to be borrowed to build that infrastructure. In fact, that is precisely what happened.

The Matarbari coal-fired power plant has been sitting idle since October 25. Implementation of the project has cost the national exchequer Tk 570 billion. The power plant is a state-of-the-art facility and is capable of producing 1,200 megawatts (MW) of power. Yet it sits idle because the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) is in no position to import coal. While there have been some indications of importing coal before the end of the year, the situation with the country's foreign exchange remains fluid at best.

The problem with this project and with all the other coal-fired power plants is essentially the same. Why did the country's policymakers take the suicidal decision to import its primary energy in the first place? It is now obvious that the idea of embarking on such expensive mega projects was to line the pockets of foreign contractors and those in power at the time.

While these plants remain idle, the country is bereft of the reliable power that could have been produced. Unless the plants go into operation, industrial production will continue to suffer further hampering economic recovery. Without sufficient power, many productive sectors of the country, some of which are exporting in nature, will not stay in operation. What does that mean for foreign exchange earnings? Everything is tied to reliable power supply and the future is looking bleak.

Yet, one still hears about how Bangladesh must not explore its own proven reserves of its coal because it will destroy the environment. Now that is very funny. It is alright to let thousands of illegal brick kilns operate all over the country - spewing out black smoke and soot into the air, causing all sorts of health and environmental problems. It is alright for industrial waste to enter the water supply untreated wreaking havoc on both marine life and drinking water and even that is acceptable. But should we extract coal using open pit mining? No, we must not. It will destroy Bangladesh; at least that's what people have been duped into thinking. Until the time comes when policymakers decide to get their collective heads out of the mud and start calculating how they are going to pay back those billions of dollars in foreign loans, nothing will change. There is no choice but to start mining coal domestically if the objective is to pull off an economic recovery. All this will take a few years, but that's the price one pays for short-sighted energy policies of the past.

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