Renewable energy will not only ease dependency on foreign fuel, but can have a host of positive social effects, the former ambassador says
Published : 11 Jun 2023, 02:13 PM
Muhammad Zamir, the chairman of the Bangladesh Renewable Energy Society, believes it is time for Bangladesh to begin a shift away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy.
“We have expanded our power generation capacity - it has increased from 4,942 MW in 2009 to 26,700 MW at present. However, the question is, our power generation is based mostly on LNG, liquid fuel, dual fuel, and then coal, but we are also building nuclear power in Rooppur,” said the career diplomat. “This generation capacity is very good, but it's time for us to consider moving into the green belt.”
“We sometimes forget how solar power and wind power can generate for us a better not only environment, but it can generate for us several other aspects and dimensions, which are good for the country,” said Zamir during an interview with bdnews24.com’s ‘Inside Out’.
A video of the interview is available on bdnews24.com and its Facebook and YouTube pages.
Zamir spoke of his experience as the former chief information commissioner, when he visited 39 districts and recognised the advantages of solar power.
“I was surprised to see how children who earlier on, used to go to bed about after dusk, after Maghrib prayers after one hour, because it was dark. It was very difficult for them to have kerosene lamps. [But now] they were up and around, studying, because there were two solar panels on top of their house. And that was giving them enough electricity and energy for them to see the television. And they could also continue with their school studies after dusk.”
In discussions with local officials, Zamir said he also learned that it was helping with family planning as access to power after dark kept people busy.
Zamir, an advisor to the Awami League, said he was pleased that the new budget for FY2024 had realised the extent of the problem.
“This is a major step which has been taken because this is a realisation that we need to do it. We are beginning to realise that it is not just a question of importing oil, or raising coal from underneath, or doing something like that so that we only think of profit and we forget about the general mass.”
He touted the Gender Responsive Climate Adaptation Project in Bangladesh’s coastal regions, which aims to enhance the capacity of women to deal with environmental disasters and climate-related shocks.
“The project will increase the ability of women to act as ‘change agents’ in the development of sustainable livelihoods and water supply options,” Zamir said.
Already 7,000 women in Sunamganj have received training on how to improve the quality of life and access to clean water in the haor (wetland) areas, he said.
‘THERE IS NO US VISA RESTRICTION’
Zamir, a former ambassador, denied that the recent visa rules announced by the United States with regard to the upcoming general election were restrictions imposed on Bangladeshis.
“No, there is no visa restriction,” he said. “They have said that we will determine who will get a visa and who will not but if you do something which is against the electoral process or against a country or against you supporting terrorists, or fundamentalism we will not give it to you or to your family but it's their business.”
Under the policy, the US restricts the issuance of visas for any Bangladeshi individual believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic election process in Bangladesh.
“It is not an unusual step,” Zamir said. “This is happening not only with us, this is happening between many of the Western countries, even between themselves.”
“This is not something which should need to create any problems for us.”
'BANGLADESH CAN REPAY IMF LOANS'
The career diplomat believes that Bangladesh will not have difficulty paying back the recently agreed $4.7 billion IMF loan package.
“We have to remember that when you want loans, if you are unable to repay that - see what has happened to Sri Lanka - but that has not happened with Bangladesh. Whatever we have managed to take as loan, we have tried our best and we have managed to give back on right conditions, those loans, as payment according to the required dates. Otherwise they wouldn’t have given the loans,” Zamir said.
The usage of these IMF funds should be transparent so there is proper accountability, but he believes that it does not force Bangladesh into a situation where it cannot repay its debt.
‘I WAS NEVER GIVEN FREE ARMED SECURITY’
Asked about the recent stir about additional security being withdrawn from diplomats in Dhaka, Zamir said, “l'll tell you this, I was ambassador myself to seven countries. And if I may say so, there was no facility of receiving armed people to look after me every time I went out of the office or the house.”
The former ambassador says the only time he recalls getting additional security was during a posting in Italy after an attack on the country’s president.
“At that time, I requested some armed support, so that every time we went out in the car, there should be somebody. So they said, ‘okay, we'll give you two persons, motorcycles will clear the roads ahead of your visit to wherever you're going, but you have to pay for them’.”