Green and human rights activists on Tuesday demanded the cancellation of the proposed 635-megawatt coal-based power plant at Matarbari in Cox鈥檚 Bazar, citing illegal and undue favours given to the proposed power project by the authoritarian Awami League regime ousted in a mass uprising past year.
The project proposed by the Orion Power traces a number of steps undertaken by authorities undermining the interests of the people, environment and economy, they said.
The power plant was supposed to start generating electricity more than four years ago in January 2020, according to the keynote paper presented at a press conference organised by the Coastal Livelihood and Environmental Action Network, a non-government organisation, at the Dhaka Reporters Unity on Tuesday.
The last time the construction deadline of the power plant was extended was in July past year, just before a student-led mass uprising ousted the Awami League government. The new deadline for the construction of the power plant was set at 2030.
鈥楾his is a strange project that allows the private company to use public facilities and make profits,鈥� said Hasan Mehedi, member secretary of the Bangladesh Working Group on Ecology and Development, a platform for rights activists and organisations.
The proposed project鈥檚 location was shifted from initially planned Gajaria of Munshiganj to Matarbari with state-owned Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited leasing 225 acres of its land to Orion in February 2023, according to the keynote paper.
The CPGCBL land was supposed to be used to build a 492MW renewable energy-based power plant.
The initial promises of gathering fund for the power plant from the United States, Korea, Poland and China had not been materialised, prompting the power plant to propose in 2020 to use fund from the country鈥檚 foreign exchange reserve.
Three state-owned banks 鈥� Janata, Agrani and Rupali 鈥� eventually announced providing the project with Tk聽10,579 crore, the keynote paper said.
The construction cost of the power plant, the keynote paper estimated, would be 70 per cent higher than the cost needed for setting up power plants such as the 1,320MW Payra power plant, according to the keynote paper.
The estimated capacity charge to be given for the power plant would stand at Tk 6.47 per unit, the keynote paper estimated, requiring the payment of Tk 76,478 crore in capacity charge over the lifetime of the power plant.
The estimated cost of losses inflicted on the public health and agricultural production due to the burning of coal, the keynote paper said, would be more than Tk 55,000 crore.
The paper also identified the environmental impact assessment report submitted by the power plant to be poorly informed, particularly on its harmful environmental impacts.
The plant would emit over its 25 years of lifetime 258.62 crore tonnes of carbon dioxide and 1,328 tonnes of fly ash and 133 tonnes of bottom ash annually, the keynote paper added.
The power plant will also release annually 105 tonnes of mercury and 608 kilograms of other metals, including cadmium, chromium and lead, the paper added.
鈥榃hy do we need the electricity the production of which would endanger our existence?鈥� asked Wasiur Rahman Tanmoy, coordinator of the Manusher Jonno Foundation.
The programme was also attended, among others, by Bareesh Hasan Chowdhury, coordinator of the Friends of Earth Asia Pacific.
