Lessons to learn

ACTIVISTS agitating for the protection of the country's gas, oil and mineral resources have consistently shown a lack of confidence in the multinational companies (MNCs) that have been operating here, and not without reason. The manner in which the US company, Occidental, had gone about doing its job in Magurchara in the late 1990s, should have helped decision-makers draw some important lessons long ago. First, only environmentally responsible, fair and competent international companies should be invited to help Bangladesh exploit its resources. Second, production-sharing contracts (PSCs) should not turn out to be blank cheques to plunder rather than exploit these resources judiciously. Third, exploitation should make both economic and ecological sense for this poor country's overwhelming masses whose right to 'human-scale' development should be prioritised with transparent pro-people contracts. That has not happened yet, which is why there has been no let-up in the activities of the committee that is avowedly fighting against successive governments' deals which it considers to be unfair.
Usually several generations pass by before the fruits of foreign direct investment "trickle down". This holds true even if the proceeds are used wisely and equitably for no-nonsense development in terms of both human and material uplift. But given the kind of PSCs that have been in operation so far, there would hardly be anything left for development once the foreign companies and their domestic agents and assorted squanderers are satisfied. It appears that the interests of the prospectors and their hangers-on have always been kept far above those of the people of Bangladesh. Governments have over the past decades been advised to go for speedy exploitation, and export the "surplus" to neighbours through expensive pipelines that would be built by the foreign companies concerned but the costs would be "recoverable", that is, Bangladesh pays. In the ultimate analysis, it is the people who have to bear the burden.
The demand is that investment be made in an expanded national grid system instead, to reach the benefits to the whole of Bangladesh such mundane things as lighting, cooking and setting up cottage and small industries. That would help generate off-farm self-employment and "build the assets of the poor" --- as recommended by many a development philosopher. If Bangladesh really means to escape the poverty trap, it would be far more sensible to use its resources directly for people's own development. India, it may be mentioned, believes in conserving its own, and so do the US and the UK. Both these countries have policies to burn other countries' cheap gas and oil now, and to keep their own reserved for the future, when the over-exploiting wells of the world will have gone dry.
Not too long ago, Bangladesh used to be lauded as a country with proven gas reserves of over ten trillion cubic feet. In fact some countries and companies prospecting for oil and gas here have been heard saying the potential reserves could be as high as five times more. The sad fact is the sector has been utterly mismanaged and the actual picture has remained fuzzy. Be that as it may, exploration and exploitation is urgently needed at this point in time and wisdom dictates that it must be done with as little devastation as possible. The costs of gas and oil exploration to a predominantly farming and fishing people in a land-scarce country are bound to be very high. It is imperative that this aspect is kept in focus to guard against plunder and to ensure that the resources are put to the best use, rather than squandered on economically questionable projects