Rampal power plant: PM Hasina to brief press on Saturday

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to brief the media on Saturday amidst protests and a growing debate over the setting up of a power plant at Bagerhat's Rampal, dangerously close to the Sundarbans.

Ashraful Alam, Deputy Press Secretary to the Prime Minister, said the press conference would be held at 4pm on Saturday at her official residence Ganabhaban.
 
Bangladesh has signed a deal with India to set up the 1,300-megawatt thermal power plant in Rampal.
 
The two countries will have equal partnership in the venture, styled Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Ltd.
 
Leftist political parties in the country have been opposing the deal, saying that the coal-fired power plant will threaten the ecological balance of the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world.
 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

The government, however, insists that proper measures will be taken to protect the environment from pollution.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, in her reaction to the controversy, on Wednesday said the power plant project went 'against the nation's interest' and asked the government to relocate it from Rampal.

Her party on Thursday also threw its support behind the 'Dhaka march' programme and a rally protesting the plant organised by the National Committee for the Protection of Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, commonly referred to as the 'Oil Gas Committee'.