Public views on draft coal policy under review
Monday, 29 November 2010
M Azizur Rahman
The government has started reviewing comments on the draft of the national coal policy for its immediate finalisation paving the way for utilising the country's huge coal reserves for future energy security, officials said Sunday.
The energy ministry had sought comments over the draft policy from cross-sections of people and received their views for over a month until November 25 last.
"Now we will try to accommodate all valuable suggestions from the people to make the country's first ever national coal policy widely acceptable and transparent," an energy ministry official told the FE.
He said the ministry got good responses from the people to the draft policy, which would make them easier to finalise it shortly.
At present, Bangladesh has huge coal reserves of around 2.90 billion tonnes in five mines, but coal extraction is limited to only one mine at Barapukuria with a paltry production of around 2,000 tonnes a day.
Development of the remaining four coalmines -- all blessed with top-quality minerals -- has been put on hold over the past decade on the ground of adoption of the national coal policy, officials said.
The first draft of the national coal policy came out in December 2005, but it could not be finalised.
The incumbent government, however, finalised a fresh draft of the national coal policy about one and half years after taking office in January 2008.
It subsequently posted it on the web for comments from every strata of society.
The new draft of the national coal policy has proposed waiver of corporate tax for contractors or licensee to encourage coalmine exploration, development and marketing.
It has also proposed rebate in duty, taxes and value added tax (VAT) on the import of machineries meant for use in coalmining, a senior energy ministry official said.
The five-page policy has recommended selection of contractors through competitive bidding for developing discovered coalmines, coal extraction and its utilisation, instead of first-come-first served basis.
It has encouraged joint venture investments from private and public sectors and foreign direct investments (FDI) for coal exploration, an official said.
Local entrepreneurs have also been called for investments in the coal sector in the newly drafted coal policy.
Contributions from development partners will be welcomed for development of the country's coal sector, the policy spells out.
The policy has provisions of attracting coal-fired power plants by contractors at the mine mouth and proposed purchase-guarantee of electricity by the government.
It has also encouraged installation of captive power plants by the interested parties.
The contractors and the government would compensate the affected people for a potential accident in a mine following discussions with the locals, the draft says.
It has suggested that the mining method should be determined on the basis of geological structure, reserve potential and economic aspects of coalmines concerned.
The government would fix the royalty rates from time to time through gazette notifications.
The government has started reviewing comments on the draft of the national coal policy for its immediate finalisation paving the way for utilising the country's huge coal reserves for future energy security, officials said Sunday.
The energy ministry had sought comments over the draft policy from cross-sections of people and received their views for over a month until November 25 last.
"Now we will try to accommodate all valuable suggestions from the people to make the country's first ever national coal policy widely acceptable and transparent," an energy ministry official told the FE.
He said the ministry got good responses from the people to the draft policy, which would make them easier to finalise it shortly.
At present, Bangladesh has huge coal reserves of around 2.90 billion tonnes in five mines, but coal extraction is limited to only one mine at Barapukuria with a paltry production of around 2,000 tonnes a day.
Development of the remaining four coalmines -- all blessed with top-quality minerals -- has been put on hold over the past decade on the ground of adoption of the national coal policy, officials said.
The first draft of the national coal policy came out in December 2005, but it could not be finalised.
The incumbent government, however, finalised a fresh draft of the national coal policy about one and half years after taking office in January 2008.
It subsequently posted it on the web for comments from every strata of society.
The new draft of the national coal policy has proposed waiver of corporate tax for contractors or licensee to encourage coalmine exploration, development and marketing.
It has also proposed rebate in duty, taxes and value added tax (VAT) on the import of machineries meant for use in coalmining, a senior energy ministry official said.
The five-page policy has recommended selection of contractors through competitive bidding for developing discovered coalmines, coal extraction and its utilisation, instead of first-come-first served basis.
It has encouraged joint venture investments from private and public sectors and foreign direct investments (FDI) for coal exploration, an official said.
Local entrepreneurs have also been called for investments in the coal sector in the newly drafted coal policy.
Contributions from development partners will be welcomed for development of the country's coal sector, the policy spells out.
The policy has provisions of attracting coal-fired power plants by contractors at the mine mouth and proposed purchase-guarantee of electricity by the government.
It has also encouraged installation of captive power plants by the interested parties.
The contractors and the government would compensate the affected people for a potential accident in a mine following discussions with the locals, the draft says.
It has suggested that the mining method should be determined on the basis of geological structure, reserve potential and economic aspects of coalmines concerned.
The government would fix the royalty rates from time to time through gazette notifications.