Body formed to review draft nat'l coal policy
Friday, 23 April 2010
M Azizur Rahman
The government has started reviewing draft of the national coal policy to check discrepancies before reaching a decision on the fate of the long-pending policy to explore the country's huge coal reserves, top officials said Thursday.
It has constituted a committee headed by Energy Secretary Mesbahuddin Ahmed to complete review of the draft policy within next couple of weeks, a senior energy ministry official told the FE.
On completion of the review, the draft of policy would be placed to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the minister for energy, for consent before placing it to the cabinet for final nod, he added.
The committee might suggest necessary amendment to the existing Mining Rules and other relevant regulations to ensure formal go of the long-stalled policy.
The energy ministry held a meeting Thursday in the secretariat where the review committee was formed.
The draft national coal policy was finalised by the energy ministry during the previous caretaker government, several years after the initiation of the move.
But the then energy ministry could not attain final nod from the council of advisers despite placing the draft policy twice.
It came under scrutiny several times before due to differences of opinion over the draft provisions.
Country's future coal sector development hinges on the national coal policy through which a comprehensive guideline is expected to unfetter for future course of action in this sector.
But years of debates over utilisation of coal and the methodology of mining made the policy makers shaky to approve it, insiders alleged.
The draft of the national coal policy has provision to unleash the country's long-restricted coal sector for foreign companies to develop coalmines and extract coal.
Currently the government has no mining lease contract with any foreign company under which such a company can initiate coal extraction from the country's coalmines, a senior official of the Bureau of Mineral Development (BMD) said.
Until now the government has only awarded coal exploration licences to some foreign companies to delineate coal reserves in several coalmines and they already completed their assigned works several years ago.
Investment proposals worth several billion US dollars from a number foreign companies have long been pending with the Board of Investment (BoI) for government decision on coal sector.
The government has started reviewing draft of the national coal policy to check discrepancies before reaching a decision on the fate of the long-pending policy to explore the country's huge coal reserves, top officials said Thursday.
It has constituted a committee headed by Energy Secretary Mesbahuddin Ahmed to complete review of the draft policy within next couple of weeks, a senior energy ministry official told the FE.
On completion of the review, the draft of policy would be placed to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the minister for energy, for consent before placing it to the cabinet for final nod, he added.
The committee might suggest necessary amendment to the existing Mining Rules and other relevant regulations to ensure formal go of the long-stalled policy.
The energy ministry held a meeting Thursday in the secretariat where the review committee was formed.
The draft national coal policy was finalised by the energy ministry during the previous caretaker government, several years after the initiation of the move.
But the then energy ministry could not attain final nod from the council of advisers despite placing the draft policy twice.
It came under scrutiny several times before due to differences of opinion over the draft provisions.
Country's future coal sector development hinges on the national coal policy through which a comprehensive guideline is expected to unfetter for future course of action in this sector.
But years of debates over utilisation of coal and the methodology of mining made the policy makers shaky to approve it, insiders alleged.
The draft of the national coal policy has provision to unleash the country's long-restricted coal sector for foreign companies to develop coalmines and extract coal.
Currently the government has no mining lease contract with any foreign company under which such a company can initiate coal extraction from the country's coalmines, a senior official of the Bureau of Mineral Development (BMD) said.
Until now the government has only awarded coal exploration licences to some foreign companies to delineate coal reserves in several coalmines and they already completed their assigned works several years ago.
Investment proposals worth several billion US dollars from a number foreign companies have long been pending with the Board of Investment (BoI) for government decision on coal sector.