Protests disrupt Bangladesh power-plant plan
We do need electricity for development, but not at the expense of destroying sundarban forest.
Campaigners insist on use of clean energy, arguing that the mangrove swamp, which is a World Heritage site, will be damaged by the smoke, ash and noise from the power plant.
Coal is the cheapest option to provide energy to Bangladesh's population of 160 million, a third of which has no access to electricity.
Sundarban, the region with the largest block of mangrove forests, is considered to be already under threat from overpopulation and inadequate infrastructure.
BD Rahmatullah, a former government energy head, said: "We are fighting not for coal-based power station but for power to be produced from clean source energy -- that is wind, solar and biomass."
Bangladesh, vulnerable to climate change, has witnessed millions of lives and acres of crops affected from flooding and extreme heat. "We do need electricity for development, but not at the expense of destroying Sundarban forest," Ummau Habiba Benazir, a protester, said. She said use of coal would harm the country's natural forests.
Related News
Chinese-built electricity poles plant inaugurated in South Sudan
JUBA - The South Sudan government has launched a factory producing concrete poles that will facilitate an ambitious project done by a Chinese company to rehabilitate and expand the Power Distribution System in Juba, its capital.
The Minister of Dams and Electricity, Dhieu Mathok, said that the factory, rented by Power China, will produce some 13,350 poles for the electricity distribution in the capital and other states.
"The main objective of this project is to increase the supply capacity and reliability of the power distribution system in Juba. Access to the grid will replace the use of generators by the population, allow…
