May 6, 2025
| Tribune Report
The demand was made at a press conference on Tuesday
Environmentalist civic organizers, terming the 635 megawatt (MW) Matarbari coal-fired power plant project illegal, have demanded that its contract be cancelled.
The demand was made at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) on Tuesday. The press conference was organized by Bangladesh Working Group on Environment and Development (BWGED) and Coastal Living and Environment Working Group (CLEAN).
Bangladesh Law Association (BELA), Environment and Development Forum (FED), Maheshkhali Jonosurokkah Mancho and Songshoptaque participated as co-organizers. At the press conference, BWGED Member Secretary Hasan Mehedi said: "This agreement to build a coal-fired power plant using technology under a controversial law is completely illegal. Plans are being made to impose a new capacity charge of Tk3,059 crore."
He mentioned that under the controversial Rapid Supply of Electricity and Fuel (Special Provisions) Act, the previous government gave the opportunity to the Orion Group to build a 635MW coal-fired power plant in Gajaria, Munshiganj, on September 29 in 2013.
Following this, a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) was signed between the Power Development Board (PDB) and Orion Power Unit-2 Dhaka Limited on April 21, 2016. According to the PPA, the contract was to produce electricity from the next 45 months or by January 2020. However, the Orion Group could not start production or construction work on time.
In February 2022, the PDB suggested relocating the power plant to the Matarbari area and extended the project deadline to December 2026. After several revisions, the deadline was finally extended once again in July 2024 to December 2030. Without this extension, the agreement would have been cancelled, but it was not.
Three government banks jointly announced a loan of Tk10,579 crore to the Orion Group for a coal power plant project in 2024. The speakers said that it would not be possible to build the Matarbari coal power plant by 2026. If it is built after that, it will not be possible to achieve the plan of implementing 100% renewable energy by 2050.
Even the cost of land lease and energy transportation will change due to the change in location, which should be lower than the amount stipulated in the 2016 agreement. For these two reasons, this PPA needs to be cancelled.
On Sunday, a public petition with citizens’ signatures demanding the cancellation of the proposed 635MW coal-fired power plant was submitted to the Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus. Copies of the petition have been sent to all relevant authorities, including the advisers concerned with power and environment, the governor of Bangladesh Bank, and the deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar.
On Sunday, 144 civil society organizations from across the country, at the initiative of the BWGED, submitted four separate petitions to the advisers of the Ministries of Finance, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and Energy and Mineral Resources, as well as to the relevant authorities of CPGCBL. These petitions strongly demanded the cancellation of Orion's coal-based project, citing risks to the environment, climate, public health, and economy.
On March 1, local people expressed their outrage and organized a human chain in Matarbari. Meanwhile, the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was approved by the end of 2023. Civil society representatives expressed the opinion that the government still has enough time and opportunity to cancel the Orion coal-fired power plant, considering the overall aspects, including human, environmental and economic interests.
Manusher Jonno Foundation Coordinator Wasiur Rahman Tonmoy, Friends of Earth Asia Pacific and BELA Coordinator Bareesh Hasan Chowdhury, ActionAid Bangladesh Coordinator Hamidur Rahman, Songshoptaq Deputy Director Agradut Dasgupta and CLEAN Operation Coordinator Mahbub Alam Prince were also present at the press conference.
News Link: Environmentalists: Matarbari 635MW coal power plant project must be cancelled