Environment and Forest Minister Anwar Hossain Manju yesterday claimed the proposed Rampal power plant would cause no harm to the Sundarbans.
“The campaign being run in different media that if a power plant was built in Rampal near the Sundarbans, it would greatly harm the area has no scientific basis,” he told parliament replying to a question from Awami League lawmaker Pinu Khan.
As an ultra supercritical technology would be used in constructing the 1320-megawatt coal-fired power plant, it won't harm the forest, the minister said.
Highest importance has been given to preparation of the project's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, as its site is near the biodiversity-rich Sundarbans region, Manju added.
The quality of the air to be emitted from the power plant would be within the permissible limits of the World Bank's guidelines and the Environment Conservation Rules, 1997.
No untreated and hot water would be released into the river, rather the water would be refined by an effluent treatment plant (ETP) for reuse in the power plant, the minister told the House.
He said high quality bituminous coal with less than 0.6 percent sulphur would be used in the plant and the coal would be imported from Indonesia or Australia.
Electrostatic precipitator, low NOx burner, flue gas desulphurisation and a 275-metre high chimney would be used in the power plant as part of mitigation measures to prevent air pollution, Manju added.
There would be a settling pond, waste water treatment plant, desalination plant and API oil water separator to control water pollution. Water recycling and reuse measures would also be in place.
Appropriate measures will be taken for full utilisation of fly and bottom ash of the power plant. Coal dust suppression system, closed conveyor belt and covered cargo or ship would be used to control pollution from coal, he said.
A monitoring team comprising of representatives from all departments concerned has been formed to keep watch on pollution control activities round the clock, the minister said, adding that the project activities were continuously been monitored after the Department of Environment approved the project's EIA report.
Manju insisted that there would be no possibility of harm to the Sundarbans if the mitigation measures mentioned in the EIA report are implemented properly.