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Background
On September 24, 2013, thousands of people joined in a 400 km long march from
the capital city of Dhaka to Rampal in Bagherhat district of Bangladesh (Bara, 2013).
The five-day long march was a protest against the proposed coal based Rampal
Power Plant in the vicinity of worlds largest mangrove forest Sundarbans. The
proposed power plant intended to produce 1320 MW electricity which would
require 4.72 million tons of coal
each year (Bara, 2013). With a
slogan of Save the Sundarbans,
environmental groups and social
activists
under
the
name
of
(NCPOGMR)
urged
the
the energy crisis (Star Online Report, 2013). Earlier when Government of
Bangladesh (GOB) wanted to initiate open pit mining in Phulbari, another huge
protest took place and eventually the government agreed to ban the project
(Cultural Survival, 2011). However, this time the protest was not successful as
Prime Minister of Bangladesh backed the project and inaugurated the project on
October 5, 2013 along with the Prime Minister of India (Dhaka Tribune, 2013).
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Currently, one of the major crises Bangladesh is facing is in energy sector which is a
major obstacle for the country to achieve the desired growth rate. During the
summer, the energy demand gets really high and the whole country experiences a
significant amount of load shedding. With increasing energy demand, the situation
will get worse in the future. Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) has
taken an ambitious plan to catch up with the future demand by adding up about
10500 MW generation capacity to the current capacity within next five years
(Bangladesh Power Development Board, 2014).
Bangladesh also suffers from natural disasters like cyclone, tornado, floods, drought
etc. In recent times, two major cyclones Cyclone Sidr on November 15, 2007 and
Cyclone Aila on May 25, 2009, hit the coastal belt and damaged the area severely
(Asian Disaster Reduction Center, 2014). Sundarbands mangrove forest was able to
minimize the impacts of these cyclones as the large vegetation of the forest
mediated the storm surge velocity and
sedimentation
process
(Barbier,
However,
damaged
Sundarbans
Figure 2: The Royal Bengal Tiger
Source:
http://calcuttanow.blogspot.com/2011/05/sunderb
an-royal-bengal-tiger-kolkata.html
22
Sidr
cyclone
percent
mangrove
of
the
forest
took
various
measures
to
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for
Economic
Co-
http://www.sundarban.org/about_sundarban.php
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viviparous embryos, and rapid rate of canopy production, highly efficient nutrient
retention mechanisms, and ability to cope with salt and maintain water and carbon
balance (Alongi, 2002). The forest has a complex food wed and provides nutrient
and habitat for a wide range of species including juvenile fish, crabs and shrimps
(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2005). Another distinct
characteristics of mangrove forest is its ability to protect coastal region from floods,
coastal erosion and storm surges (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development, 2005). However, the forest itself is vulnerable to climate change and
human activities. The benefits and services from a mangrove forests are listed in
Table 1.
Table 1: Benefits and Services of Mangrove ecosystems
Direct Use Values
Non-use Values
Biodiversity
conservation
Carbon sequestration
Shoreline stabilization
Storm protection
Nutrient sediment rapping
Habitat
and
provision
nursery
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2004) are dependent on the Sundarbans in the form fishermen, honey gatherers,
leaves, and grass gatherers. Around 200 thousands people go to Sundarbans to
extract natural resources for their livelihoods (Chowdhury, 2013). However, the
Sundarbans also acts as shelter belt to protect coastal people form storms, cyclones,
tidal surges, sea water seepage, salinity intrusion. As a tourist place, Sundarbans has
growing interest to travelers, which will be enhanced if supported by adequate
infrastructure and promotion. However, recent disasters like Sidr and Aila has
destroyed a good portion of forest and currently the government has taken different
conservation approach for the regeneration of this forest considering the economic
and ecological value of the forest.
Current concerns associated with the Sundarbans are sea level rise, salinity
intrusion, overexploitation of resources, conversion of land use and endangered
species. The forestry department most often fails to protect the tidal forest by taking
proper actions against ongoing over extraction of natural resources and corruption
by public officials. As a result, most of effort toward ecosystem management and
biodiversity conservation in Sundarbans areas has not been successful. With the
growing intensity of natural hazards, the situation of Sundarbans will be really
threatening, which in turn effect the country both environmentally and
economically. When the forest department is currently struggling to find a
sustainable management system, building a power plant will create a really
complicated situation. Though the country is in dire need of electricity generation to
achieve desired economic growth rate and provide electricity connectivity to
growing demands, the environmental risk of establishing a coal-based power plant
SPEA V 541: BENEFIT COST ANALYSIS
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can be irreparable. In the next session, we will illustrate the present energy
situation of Bangladesh and available alternatives for electricity generation.
Present Energy Situation in Bangladesh
Government of Bangladesh intends to provide electricity to all citizen by 2021 at an
affordable cost with better connectivity. The per capita generation is only 236 kwh
and only 48.5% of the population has access to electricity (Mahmud & Haque, 2012).
The electricity statistics is very low compared other developing countries and one of
the major bottleneck behind countrys desired economic growth. The country
experiences a severe shortage of electricity and situation get worse during the
summer. On a hot sunny day, most households and offices experience one hour of
load shedding after every one hour of electricity consumption. Most industries and
offices have their own generators as a backup to support the production and
services, which is expensive and inefficient simultaneously.
Table 2 provides an account of the historical development and future projection of
the average maximum demand, average generation, difference between these two
and average load shedding from 2007 to 2015.
Table 2: Energy Situation in Bangladesh
Average maximum Demand
Average Generation
2007
3970 MW
3378 MW
2011
4833 MW
4103 MW
Difference
Average Load Shedding
592 MW
516 MW
730 MW
656 MW
2015 (Proposed)
5696 MW
4828 MW
11500 MW (vision by 2015)
668 MW
795 MW
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Between 2007 and 2011, the increasing rate of electricity generation was 5.37%, the
increasing rate of electricity demand was 5.43%; this gap resulted in an increase in
the rate of load shedding which accounted for 6.72% for the same period (Mahmud
& Haque, 2012). So, countrys target to provide electricity to all its citizen is doubtful
at the moment unless government immediately undertakes projects like Rampal
Power Plant. The country, in addition to lack of power generation capacity, also
experiences a substantial amount of power loss in electricity generation, wchih we
discuss in our next section.
Power System Loss Scenario in Bangladesh
Power system losses accounted for 14.02% in 2012, which is really high compared
to the electricity shortage in the country. Power system loss occurs for two reasons:
nontechnical reasons and technical reasons. Among the nontechnical reasons, single
fuel independence is a major one as 85% of the current electricity generation is gasbased (Mahmud & Haque, 2012). Available alternatives are coal, diesel and heavy
fuel oil, which has still been in rudimentary stage in the country. Another reason is
improper privatization improper privatization policy; between 2010 and 2011,
private sector electricity generation increased only by 4% (Mahmud & Haque,
2012). Lack of innovation and political stagnation has further contribute to the
nontechnical power loss.
The significant technical issues for power losses are (Mahmud & Haque, 2012):
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One of the most immediate way to increase the power generation is to reform the
whole energy sector to an efficient one. However, the government has ignored the
rapid modernization in the energy sector for a long time. The government also has
failed to promote the renewable energy as an alternative was of electricity
generation, even though it has a hug potential. The next section illustrates the
present efforts in renewable energy which can be another solution to solve the
energy crisis in Bangladesh.
Present Status of Renewable Energy in Bangladesh
Currently, only 10% of the rural households in Bangladesh have access to electricity
and a good portion of the remaining part will not be connected to the national grid
even if in next 30 years (Anam & Husnain-Al-Bustam, 2011). There are many
sources of renewable energy that can be efficiently adopted in the context of
Bangladesh like solar power, wind power, biomass, biogas and micro hydro.
The daily average solar radiation varies between 4 to 6.5 KWh per square meter,
where maximum radiation can be available in the month of March-April and
minimum in December- January (Anam & Husnain-Al-Bustam, 2011). In
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References
Alongi, D. M. (2002). Present State and Future of the World's Mangrove Forests.
Environmental Conservation, 29(3), 331-349. Retrieved from
http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FENC%2FENC29_03
%2FS0376892902000231a.pdf&code=f5dd7d632caa8754589a28152cc611
2a
Asian Disaster Reduction Center. (2014, May 7). Asian Disaster Reduction Center.
Retrieved from Asian Disaster Reduction Center Website:
http://www.adrc.asia/nationinformation.php?NationCode=50&Lang=en&N
ationNum=13
Bangladesh Power Development Board. (2014, May 7). Bangladesh Power
Development Board. Retrieved May 7, 2014, from Bangladesh Power
Development Board Websit: http://www.bpdb.gov.bd/bpdb/
Bara, S. (2013, September 27). Long march against coal-fired power plant in
Bangladesh. New Delhi: Down to Earth. Retrieved May 7, 2014, from
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/long-march-against-coal-firedpower-plant-bangladesh
Barbier, E. B. (2006). Natural Barriers to Natural Disasters: Replanting Mangroves
after the Tsunami. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 4, 124-131.
Cultural Survival. (2011, February). Bangladesh: Ban Coal Mine, Save Forests and
Farms. Cultural Survival. Retrieved May 7, 2014, from
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/take-action/bangladesh-ban-coal-minesave-forests-and-farms/bangladesh-ban-coal-mine-save-forests
Dhaka Tribune. (2013, November 13). PM Backs Coal-based Power Plant at Rampal .
Dhaka: Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved May 7, 2014, from
http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2013/nov/13/pm-backs-coalbased-power-plant-rampal
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