PM defends Rampal at Davos, doubts critics, invites Al Gore to visit Bangladesh

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina staunchly defended the Rampal thermal power project during the World Economic Forum meet in Davos.

She confronted a strong opposition against it from former US vice president and climate change advocate Al Gore by inviting him to visit it and assess its safety firsthand.

On Wednesday evening, Hasina represented Bangladesh at a plenary session titled "Leading the fight against climate change", at the Davos Congress Center.

Invited to speak first, she presented a broad idea about the prospects and challenges faced by Bangladesh while walking the tightrope between balancing development and ensuring environmental preservation.

However, things charged up quite a bit with former Gore categorically asking Hasina to "stop building the dirty coal plant" and instead focus on generation of clean sources of power.

He began by reminding her, "Up until last year Bangladesh was the fastest deploying nation of solar power...2 systems per minute, night and day, 24 hours...that has now slowed down" and added, "There is a new plan to build a dirty coal plant in the Sundarbans...the largest mangrove forest in the world...the last remaining tiger preserve."

"My advice would be, don't build that dirty coal plant but double down on a more renewable source of energy," he said.

Gore said the private sector in Bangladesh, assisted by Muhammad Yunus' microcredit mechanism, has set the world record in installing renewable sources of energy.

 

Responding to the part-charge-part-suggestion from Al Gore, Hasina began, "I do not see why people raise this issue..."

She tried to dispel fears about the ecological threat to the Royal Bengal Tigers and the mangrove forests of the region by pointing out that the proposed power plant is located far away from the ecologically sensitive area.

"We have taken all the steps so that (the) environment should not be affected."

Hasina explained that the plant in question is a 'super critical modern plant' and that every care has been taken so that it is safe for the environment.

Interestingly, she pointed out that a relatively low technology coal-fired power plant is located in the densely populated Dinajpur.

Despite the plant running into its third phase now, the prime minister said it did not pose any threat to the environment, the crops or to the people.

She wondered at the hullabaloo surrounding Rampur plant, which she said is a good 60-70 kilometres away from the part of Sundarbans that is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

"Sometimes it seems to me that they don't think about the people, they worry about our tiger..."she observed.

In her observation, she managed to underscore the dilemma between meeting the needs of the population and protecting the environment--which also became a core issue of discussion in the session.

She admitted that protests against the plant are on in her country but argued that those joining the bandwagon are hardly aware of the reasons for their protests or the scope of the project.

Exuding confidence, she went on to invite Al Gore to visit Rampal and take a firsthand stock there.

Al Gore accepted the invitation with a smile.

Conveying the seriousness of her government at preserving the environment, the prime minister said while forest cover increased since she first became prime minister in 1996, her government plans to make the figure climb to 25 percent of the total area.

She emphasised as a country that has just started to chug along the development trajectory, it also needs to focus on ensuring food security, providing jobs to millions and at the same time, committing itself to environmental issues.

She observed that despite pressure on her government from environmentalists, the local people at the site of the plant are happy about it. 

"People crying about environment perhaps have something different in their minds," she asserted, pointing out that with poverty reduced and the GDP soaring at over 7 percent, Bangladesh has been prospering under her government.

Norway Prime Minister Erna Solberg, HSBC CEO Stuart Gulliver and Cofco Agri CEO Jingtao Chi also spoke in the session.