Dhaka: State minister for power, energy and mineral resources, Nasrul Hamid, yesterday said the UNESCO World Heritage Committee set some conditions for going ahead with the proposed Rampal plant, which would be located near the Sundarbans, to protect the world heritage site.Talking to reporters at his Gulshan residence, he said the Bangladesh government had accepted the heritage committee’s conditions.
He made this disclosure after the external publicity wing of the foreign affairs ministry issued a press release, claiming the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO had withdrawn its earlier objection to the construction of the Rampal power plant at its current location.
The committee meeting, held in Kraków, Poland, has also spared the Sundarbans from being relegated to the ‘List of World Heritage in Danger’, said the release.
Green activists, however, expressed concern over the foreign ministry’s claim that the UNESCO has withdrawn its objection to the Rampal power project, saying the new claim amounted to shifting its scientific stance. They questioned the “shift in the UNESCO stance” and announced a countrywide protest rally on July 11 (Tuesday) to demand the scrapping of the project.
Prof. Anu Muhammad, member secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, termed the change in the UNESCO stance as a “surrender of scientific ways to lobbyists appointed by vested quarters for unknown reasons”.
Meanwhile, experts of an Australia-based energy research institute yesterday said that the expenditure of the Rampal power plant project may escalate to USD 5 billion.
Speaking at a discussion on coal-based power plants in Bangladesh, including the Rampal project, experts of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) said the Rampal power project was being pursued on the basis of wrong assumptions.
The Sundarbans Rakkha Jatiya Committee and the Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon jointly organised the meeting in Dhaka University, with DU teacher Prof. MM Akash in the chair. IEEFA energy finance analyst Simon Nicholas, BAPA general secretary Md Abdul Motin and DU teacher Prof. Badrul Imam, among others, also spoke on the occasion.
The experts alleged that the government was telling half-truth regarding the decision of the World Heritage Committee of the UNESCO to withdraw its objection to the proposed Rampal power plant.
Tim Buckley, director of the Energy Finance Studies of the IEEFA, said Bangladesh should take the path of renewable energy.
State minister for power, energy and mineral resources, Nasrul Hamid, yesterday said the UNESCO World Heritage Committee set some conditions for going ahead with the proposed Rampal plant, which would be located near the Sundarbans, to protect the world heritage site. Talking to reporters at his Gulshan residence, he said the Bangladesh government had accepted the heritage committee’s conditions.
He made this disclosure after the external publicity wing of the foreign affairs ministry issued a press release, claiming the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO had withdrawn its earlier objection to the construction of the Rampal power plant at its current location. The committee meeting, held in Kraków, Poland, has also spared the Sundarbans from being relegated to the ‘List of World Heritage in Danger’, said the release. Green activists, however, expressed concern over the foreign ministry’s claim that the UNESCO has withdrawn its objection to the Rampal power project, saying the new claim amounted to shifting its scientific stance.
They questioned the “shift in the UNESCO stance” and announced a countrywide protest rally on July 11 (Tuesday) to demand the scrapping of the project. Prof. Anu Muhammad, member secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, termed the change in the UNESCO stance as a “surrender of scientific ways to lobbyists appointed by vested quarters for unknown reasons”. Meanwhile, experts of an Australia-based energy research institute yesterday said that the expenditure of the Rampal power plant project may escalate to USD 5 billion. Speaking at a discussion on coal-based power plants in Bangladesh, including the Rampal project, experts of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) said the Rampal power project was being pursued on the basis of wrong assumptions.
The Sundarbans Rakkha Jatiya Committee and the Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon jointly organised the meeting in Dhaka University, with DU teacher Prof. MM Akash in the chair. IEEFA energy finance analyst Simon Nicholas, BAPA general secretary Md Abdul Motin and DU teacher Prof. Badrul Imam, among others, also spoke on the occasion. The experts alleged that the government was telling half-truth regarding the decision of the World Heritage Committee of the UNESCO to withdraw its objection to the proposed Rampal power plant. Tim Buckley, director of the Energy Finance Studies of the IEEFA, said Bangladesh should take the path of renewable energy.
State minister for power, energy and mineral resources, Nasrul Hamid, yesterday said the UNESCO World Heritage Committee set some conditions for going ahead with the proposed Rampal plant, which would be located near the Sundarbans, to protect the world heritage site.Talking to reporters at his Gulshan residence, he said the Bangladesh government had accepted the heritage committee’s conditions. He made this disclosure after the external publicity wing of the foreign affairs ministry issued a press release, claiming the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO had withdrawn its earlier objection to the construction of the Rampal power plant at its current location.
The committee meeting, held in Kraków, Poland, has also spared the Sundarbans from being relegated to the ‘List of World Heritage in Danger’, said the release. Green activists, however, expressed concern over the foreign ministry’s claim that the UNESCO has withdrawn its objection to the Rampal power project, saying the new claim amounted to shifting its scientific stance. They questioned the “shift in the UNESCO stance” and announced a countrywide protest rally on July 11 (Tuesday) to demand the scrapping of the project. Prof. Anu Muhammad, member secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, termed the change in the UNESCO stance as a “surrender of scientific ways to lobbyists appointed by vested quarters for unknown reasons”.
Meanwhile, experts of an Australia-based energy research institute yesterday said that the expenditure of the Rampal power plant project may escalate to USD 5 billion. Speaking at a discussion on coal-based power plants in Bangladesh, including the Rampal project, experts of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) said the Rampal power project was being pursued on the basis of wrong assumptions. The Sundarbans Rakkha Jatiya Committee and the Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon jointly organised the meeting in Dhaka University, with DU teacher Prof. MM Akash in the chair. IEEFA energy finance analyst Simon Nicholas, BAPA general secretary Md Abdul Motin and DU teacher Prof. Badrul Imam, among others, also spoke on the occasion. The experts alleged that the government was telling half-truth regarding the decision of the World Heritage Committee of the UNESCO to withdraw its objection to the proposed Rampal power plant. Tim Buckley, director of the Energy Finance Studies of the IEEFA, said Bangladesh should take the path of renewable energy. State minister for power, energy and mineral resources, Nasrul Hamid, yesterday said the UNESCO World Heritage Committee set some conditions for going ahead with the proposed Rampal plant, which would be located near the Sundarbans, to protect the world heritage site.
Talking to reporters at his Gulshan residence, he said the Bangladesh government had accepted the heritage committee’s conditions. He made this disclosure after the external publicity wing of the foreign affairs ministry issued a press release, claiming the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO had withdrawn its earlier objection to the construction of the Rampal power plant at its current location. The committee meeting, held in Kraków, Poland, has also spared the Sundarbans from being relegated to the ‘List of World Heritage in Danger’, said the release. Green activists, however, expressed concern over the foreign ministry’s claim that the UNESCO has withdrawn its objection to the Rampal power project, saying the new claim amounted to shifting its scientific stance.
They questioned the “shift in the UNESCO stance” and announced a countrywide protest rally on July 11 (Tuesday) to demand the scrapping of the project. Prof. Anu Muhammad, member secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, termed the change in the UNESCO stance as a “surrender of scientific ways to lobbyists appointed by vested quarters for unknown reasons”. Meanwhile, experts of an Australia-based energy research institute yesterday said that the expenditure of the Rampal power plant project may escalate to USD 5 billion. Speaking at a discussion on coal-based power plants in Bangladesh, including the Rampal project, experts of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) said the Rampal power project was being pursued on the basis of wrong assumptions.
The Sundarbans Rakkha Jatiya Committee and the Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon jointly organised the meeting in Dhaka University, with DU teacher Prof. MM Akash in the chair. IEEFA energy finance analyst Simon Nicholas, BAPA general secretary Md Abdul Motin and DU teacher Prof. Badrul Imam, among others, also spoke on the occasion. The experts alleged that the government was telling half-truth regarding the decision of the World Heritage Committee of the UNESCO to withdraw its objection to the proposed Rampal power plant. Tim Buckley, director of the Energy Finance Studies of the IEEFA, said Bangladesh should take the path of renewable energy.
