Develop new coal policy

They also demanded that a new committee be formed to develop a coal policy with emphasis on utilisation of coal in the country.

The energy security will not be ensured if the coalmines are handed over to foreign companies and natural resources are exported, they said at a seminar on 'Mass upsurge in Phulbari and coal policy of Bangladesh' at Dhaka Reporters' Unity auditorium, organised by the Progressive Engineers and Architects Forum.

The government should take initiatives to extract coals on its own, rather than handing over the mines to multinational companies, the experts said.

Monjura Haq Neela, member-secretary of the Forum, presented a keynote paper in the seminar chaired by its President Harun-or-Rashid.

Although the first coal mine was discovered in the country in 1985, the government prepared and published a draft policy on coal on December 1, 2005, which proposes to declare the north-eastern region as Coal Zone and extract coals mostly in open-pit method, said Monjura.

The government published the second draft policy on January 23, 2006, bringing about huge changes in the policy and almost doubled the coal extraction amount to 20 million ton, according to the keynote speaker.

All the policies are export-oriented and designed to benefit the foreign companies, Monjura said.

She called on the government to train people in this sector and extract coals on its own efforts.

Prof Nurul Islam said, "The problems lie in the negotiations with the foreign companies, which lack transparency."

Referring to fire incidents at Magurchhara gas field, he suggested that the government modify the contracts with other companies.

He also suggested taking initiatives to develop industries in order to use extracted coals in the country, rather than exporting those through foreign companies.

Criticising the draft policy, Prof Badrul Imam said the government took very little time to develop the policy and did not make it public.

Describing the policy as 'impractical' in terms of the demand for coal in the country and the difficulty of extracting coal, he suggested that a new committee be formed to develop a policy as the earlier ones raised many questions and lack transparency.