Review body finalises draft coal policy sans royalty rate
Saturday, 15 December 2007
FE Report
The coal policy review committee Friday finalised the draft coal policy without bringing any change in line with consensus reached at its meeting last Sunday on royalty issue, coal export and open-pit mining method.
It recommended in the final draft not to allow coal export and favoured open-pit mining in a limited scale as a test case. The committee, however, left the issue relating to the fixation of royalty rate for the coal development committee.
The review committee, formed more than six months back, is headed by former BUET vice chancellor Abdul Matin Patwari.
The committee will submit its final recommendations on the draft policy to the Energy and Mineral Resources Division shortly. A copy of the draft policy is likely to be sent to the Chief Adviser's Office.
It will be placed before the advisory council for endorsement after vetting by the law ministry, according to the committee members.
"The draft coal policy has been given final touch as we have reached a consensus," Patwari told the meeting. He added that the committee finalised the coal policy protecting the national interest.
The committee required about 21 meetings to give the draft coal policy a final shape as its members for quite sometime had divergent opinion on various issues.
Earlier, it decided not to allow coal exports considering the country's energy security in the coming years. The committee has also recommended 'limited' open-pit mining to experiment the viability of the method, taking into consideration adverse socio-economic and environmental impact.
It has also suggested involvement of foreign investors in the domestic coal sector provided they form joint venture with the proposed state-run company, the Coal Bangla.
The committee has also reached a consensus on royalty issue, leaving the same for consideration by the proposed coal development committee headed by power and energy minister.
So, until the development committee sets a fresh royalty rate, it will continue to be 5-6 per cent on extracted coal. The review committee also recommended flotation of 20 per cent shares of future coal mining companies in the stock markets.
The eight-member coal review committee was formed on June 21 through a circular with a one-month deadline to complete its task but it could not begin work until July 31 as head of the body was abroad. Later, four new members had been inducted in the committee. Then, it was given 30 more days to complete its job. But it failed to finish the job within that period.
In its seventh meeting held on October 1 it sought another 50 working days from the energy division.
Earlier, the committee took opinion of and, suggestions from, the cross-section of people including experts, economists, journalists, rights groups and people of Phulbari in Dinajpur.
The coal policy review committee Friday finalised the draft coal policy without bringing any change in line with consensus reached at its meeting last Sunday on royalty issue, coal export and open-pit mining method.
It recommended in the final draft not to allow coal export and favoured open-pit mining in a limited scale as a test case. The committee, however, left the issue relating to the fixation of royalty rate for the coal development committee.
The review committee, formed more than six months back, is headed by former BUET vice chancellor Abdul Matin Patwari.
The committee will submit its final recommendations on the draft policy to the Energy and Mineral Resources Division shortly. A copy of the draft policy is likely to be sent to the Chief Adviser's Office.
It will be placed before the advisory council for endorsement after vetting by the law ministry, according to the committee members.
"The draft coal policy has been given final touch as we have reached a consensus," Patwari told the meeting. He added that the committee finalised the coal policy protecting the national interest.
The committee required about 21 meetings to give the draft coal policy a final shape as its members for quite sometime had divergent opinion on various issues.
Earlier, it decided not to allow coal exports considering the country's energy security in the coming years. The committee has also recommended 'limited' open-pit mining to experiment the viability of the method, taking into consideration adverse socio-economic and environmental impact.
It has also suggested involvement of foreign investors in the domestic coal sector provided they form joint venture with the proposed state-run company, the Coal Bangla.
The committee has also reached a consensus on royalty issue, leaving the same for consideration by the proposed coal development committee headed by power and energy minister.
So, until the development committee sets a fresh royalty rate, it will continue to be 5-6 per cent on extracted coal. The review committee also recommended flotation of 20 per cent shares of future coal mining companies in the stock markets.
The eight-member coal review committee was formed on June 21 through a circular with a one-month deadline to complete its task but it could not begin work until July 31 as head of the body was abroad. Later, four new members had been inducted in the committee. Then, it was given 30 more days to complete its job. But it failed to finish the job within that period.
In its seventh meeting held on October 1 it sought another 50 working days from the energy division.
Earlier, the committee took opinion of and, suggestions from, the cross-section of people including experts, economists, journalists, rights groups and people of Phulbari in Dinajpur.