DHAKA: Jatiya Party, a major component of the ruling grand alliance, demanded immediate implementation of the national coal policy and building coal-fired power plants to address the power crunch in the country.

“It is high time for the government to lay emphasis on coal-based power generation after formulating the coal policy,” said Jatiya Party chairman and ex-president general (retd) HM Ershad while addressing a seminar at the CIRDAP auditorium Monday.

Rangpur Division Development Council organised the seminar titled ‘Energy and Power Sector: Tasks of Rangpur Division’.

Petrobangla, however, said no new coal policy is required in improving the situation.

In his speech, Ershad also urged the government to take immediate measures to resolve the electricity and gas crises in Rangpur Division—his native place in the country’s north where coal lies untapped in huge deposits.

Engineer Mohammad Fazlul Haque, former member of the Power Development Board, said, “The country needs to produce more than 20 thousand megawatts of electricity to build a ‘digital’ Bangladesh by 2021.

“And it is possible if the government takes some long-term plans for setting up coal-based power plants.”

Mahbub-e-Elahi, former director of Petrobangla, told the function that national coal policy is not a crying need to improve the situation.

“We can utilize the coal resource as per the National Power Law 1995. If Petrobangla is asked to work jointly with the private organizations in the coal sector, the situation will improve within a short time," he said.

The organization gave a warm reception to the Everest Hero, Musa Ibrahim, in the second phase of the seminar.

Some legislators from Rangpur and power experts from BUET also attended the meeting.  

BDST: 1317 Hrs, 14 June, 2010
RSA/SMS/MUA