A high-level delegation led by the Prime Minister’s Energy Power and Mineral Resources advisor Dr. Tawfiq E Elahi Chowdhury has set off to Paris to clarify the authenticity of setting up the Rampal coal-fired power plant to UNESCO.
The UNESCO has listed Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest of the world in the world heritage site, but the organization is recently planning to delist the forest from its world heritage site list as the government is installing a coal-fired power plant and approved factories near the forest. The proposal regarding this delisting is expected to be submitted and passed in the next annual general meeting of the UNESCO which is to be held on the next July.
The delegation will be responsible for clarifying the related UNESCO body about the authenticity of setting up the Rampal power plant at the current project site and will convince them to not enlist the Sundarbans in the ‘world heritage site in danger’.
The delegation left Dhaka on Sunday and will have a meeting with UNESCO on the following day. Except for Dr. Tawfiq E Elahi Chaudhury, the delegation comprises of Eng. Khaled Mahmud, the chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), Mohammad Hossain, the director general of Powercell, Md. Roisul Islam Mondal, the director general of the environment department and others.
Before setting off towards Paris Mohammad Hossain said that, the delegation would highlight the measures that would be taken to safeguard the environment of the Sundarbans. The team will also focus on highlighting the needs of the power plant and the in the socio-economic reality of Bangladesh and at the same time will try to prove that the power plant won’t harm water and the air of the Sundarbans area. He said that, this meeting would just be a pre-discussion before the next annual general meeting.
A 3 manned UNESCO team visited the Sundarbans in March of the last year in the wake of setting up the Rampal power plant amid protest from the environmentalists. However, the UNESCO delegation suggested the government relocate the power plant to somewhere distant place after visiting the site as the plant could harm the Sundarbans. In their recommendation submitted to the government, the team had said that, the name of the Sundarbans might be enlisted in the world heritage site in danger list if the government failed to follow the recommendations.
The UNESCO team found some inconsistency in between the reports of Environment Impact Analysis (EIA) of the Rampal power plant prepared by the government and the tender document of the materializing company of the power plant Bangladesh-India Friendship Company Limited (BIFPCL). According to the UNESCO team, the EIA report was not also standardized enough and the technology that is about to be used in the power plant is not modern and environment-safe enough as well as the overall standard is not up to the mark.
The Bangladeshi delegation that set off towards Paris is likely to convince the UNESCO saying that, this 1320 MW power plant is about to be set up 69 km upstream of the world heritage site and 14 km away from the outer boundary of Sundarbans. Latest technologies that will be used in installing this plant will ensure the safety of the environment and Sundarbans. The chimney of the plant will be 900 feet high where the traditional coal-fired plant usually have 500 feet tall chimney, which will help ensuring the environment safety.