Bangladeshi ex-PM Khaleda urges gov't to shelve $1.5b India-Bangladesh power plant

Bangladeshi ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has urged the government to shelve a 1.5 billion India-Bangladesh power plant project near Sundarbands, the world's largest mangrove forests which straddle both Bangladesh and India.

Khaleda, chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), also called upon the people to be vocal against implementation of the project.

She came up with the remarks at a press briefing on Wednesday.

"The proposed power plant will ruin the environment of the Sundarbans and, therefore, the country will have to count a huge long-term loss for producing power in the plant."

"We'll urge the government to shelve the power plant project near Sundarbands. Hope the government will come back from its decision of setting up the power plant."

She further said the ecological balance of Sundarbans will be destroyed and Bangladesh will be turned into an unlivable state if the project is implemented.

"I'll call upon the people to raise voices against the project near the world's largest mangrove forest Sundarbans."

Amid severe criticism from many power experts and green activists, Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) and Indian National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in April 2013 signed three major agreements heading toward implementation of the plant.

Under the deals, the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company, a joint venture between the PDB and the NTPC with 50:50 share, will implement the project in which officials claim that super critical technology would be used to curb the much talked about carbon emission.

According to the protesters, discharge from the plant like fly ash and sulphur dioxide will have disastrous consequences for the fauna and flora of the mangrove forests -- a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Source : XINHUA