Rampal coal power plant, Bangladesh, an ethical perspective

Ikhtiar Mohammad

While the entire world is moving towards searching for the alternatives, especially renewable energy; Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company is going to construct a coal fired power plant near the Sundarbans

Niccolo Machiavelli, a medieval Italian thinker, endorsed the use of immoral means by the ruler of the state. He believed, a king might use instruments of a lie, conspiracy, killings and so on so forth.

According to him, a ruler is the maker of law and morality, hence s/he is above the both. Thus, attaining power ought to be the ultimate concern for a ruler in political and social settings as stated by Machiavelli.

Well, I think the readers already started making analogy of Machiavellian ethics with that of different ruling regimes over the history of Bangladesh.

However, what I did not mention is that Machiavelli advised immoral means by the ruler whenever it is necessary to save the state. So, the center of concern for holding power is national interest, not personal interest.

Nevertheless, in our case regardless any party-political regime, national interest has never been our ruling elites’ prime concern.

Consequently, the question arises, which philosophy does our policy makers espouse while adopting any decision or policy – Aristotelianism, Utilitarian Logic, Kantian Assumptions, Rawlsian Ethics, Nozick’s Entitlement Theory, Socrates’s Social Contract Argument, Sen’s Public Reasoning or, is it based on their self-interest maximizing principle?

Let us seek out the answer in light of the bloody coal-fired power plant of Rampal.

While the entire world is moving towards searching for the alternatives, especially renewable energy; Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company Ltd, is going to construct a 1,320 MW coal fired power plant near the Sundarbans in Rampal (located only 14 km apart from the world’s largest mangrove forest). The company is a joint venture between the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), and India’s National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).

While the government is electroplating any possible damage to the Sundarbans, a UNESCO world heritage site, the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports; some left-leaning organizations as well as environmentalists have been opposing that there will have numerous adverse impact on the pristine forest.

It is noteworthy, Indian government environmental guidelines and wildlife conservation acts do not allow setting up such a plant within 25 km periphery of a forest and the eco-sensitive areas. So, materializing such a plant is absolutely impossible on the Indian side of the Sundarbans.

Surprisingly, the land acquisition process for installing the plant started in the year 2011, the joint venture agreement was done in 2012, and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was approved by the Department of Environment in 2013, whereas the events supposed to take place in the  reverse order, that resembles Bangladesh government’s stubborn commitment to establish the coal power plant.

Dwellers were displaced by force from their inherited paternal land and government owned plot at the acquired plant site, often refuted by the authority. They were inadequately compensated with a paltry sum, far below the market price without taking into account any productive asset on their ripped-off land further posing their livelihoods to a vulnerable future.

Though freedom of assembly is warranted by Article 37 of Bangladesh Constitution, “Every citizen shall have the right to assemble and to participate in public meetings and processions peacefully and without arms…”, the state authority has been relentless in impeding any form of anti-Rampal movement seizing citizens’ right to freedom of expression, one of the key constituents of democratic society. By the way, in the recently published Democracy Index 2017, Bangladesh has ranked the 92nd position with a record of low score in the last decade.

Anti-Rampal factions often claim, the arrangement will benefit India much more than it will do to Bangladesh, as Bangladesh has to take $1.6 billion loans from Indian Exim Bank with full repayment liability while India will have 50 percent of its ownership without any liability. Moreover, the interest rate is as high as 14% in comparison to that of similar large scale projects i.e., JICA financed Matarbari Coal Power Plant (0.1%). Furthermore, the business of coal supply to the plant and implementation of the project, all will be carried out by India.

A recent study by United States-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis states that the cost of electricity production at Rampal power plant would be Taka 9.5 per kilowatt, in comparison to Taka 2 on average from gas-based and other rental power plants (0.012 USD=1 Taka)).

Unusually, Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), a government owned organization considered the Sundarbans as a “residential area” instead of an “Environmentally Critical Area (ECA)” while preparing the Environmental Impact Assessment thereby overlooking the severe pollution effect on the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of the forest.

The project will be in operation for 25 years. As stated by a Greenpeace report released in May 2017, “over its operational lifetime, the plant´s emissions will increase the risk of stroke, lung cancer, heart and respiratory diseases in adults, as well as respiratory symptoms in children.” The report further stated, “the plant alone would cause the premature deaths of 6,000 people and low birth weights of 24,000 babies.”

Article 18 (A) of Bangladesh Constitution states, “the State shall endeavor to protect and improve the environment and to preserve and safeguard the natural resources, bio-diversity, wetlands, forests and wild life for the present and future citizens.” Thus, the building of a coal-based thermal power plant is contradictory to the basic principles of the Constitution.

When we talk about developmental activities, issues must be assessed from the point of specific ethical virtues as Aristotelian Ethics suggests. Essentially, development refers to a balanced quest for human wellbeing with care for nature. This is a concomitant pledge not only to the existing population but also to the generations to follow. Therefore, development should be sustainable, which cannot be achieved without careful attention to virtue politics.

In line with John Rawls’ Distributive Justice Principle, it is ethically debatable – if any negativity occurs because of Rampal power plant, will the sufferers be compensated? Did the displaced people from the project area have been properly reimbursed? Will it be literally possible to pay-off the loss of the largest mangrove ecosystem on earth? Isn’t it a complete violation of human rights endangering the present and future generations in respect of environment and health hazards?

From the Teleological or Utilitarian stand, it is dubious – whether the Bangladesh government’s decision, to set up a coal-fired power plant right next to Sundarbans, will result in greatest good for the greatest number of people?

From the perspective of Deontologists, it is questionable – whether the persistent decision to embark on Rampal project is morally and intrinsically right action for both the governments? It is worth mentioning that NTPC as well as Indian government already hinged on long term strategic plan for renewable sources of energy for electricity production in their home. Isn’t it a clear violation of Immanuel Kant’s Principle of the Universal Law in part of the Indian government? Isn’t it a violation of civil liberties by the Bangladesh government, disrespecting the mass peoples’ dissenting voices abusing state autonomy?

Prof. Noam Chomsky may wish to allege Rampal power plant as a neoliberal onslaught on the environment. Undoubtedly, it is nothing but an instrument of raising opulence by the state-sponsored capitalists.

Right to the Sundarbans is right to both individual and collective entitlements. From the foregoing discussion, we saw a significant number of peoples’ livelihoods have already been ruined due to the proposed power plant, which will further depress not only the local inhabitants’ stake but also that of the global citizens’ because the Sundarbans is part of the global environment, ecology and heritage. Thereby, it is a clear desecration of Robert Nozik’s Entitlement Concept.

Inconsiderately, Bio-Environmentalists’ Philosophy is being overlooked in this unending debate that considers extending the traditional boundaries of environmental ethics from solely including humans to include the non-human world. The Sundarbans need to be saved not only for the sake of humanity but also for the terrestrial and aquatic flora and fauna of the mangrove ecosystem itself.

My plea to the countrymen, we are passing a critical threshold and gradually approaching a point of no return. Before the damage becomes irreversible, turn around and be united to protect the world’s largest mangrove forest. Otherwise, it is imminent that your next generations will have to visit the Sundarbans in the pages of history books only.

By the same token, the statesmen should not forget that the legitimate authority of government must derive from the consent of the governed, as recommended by the Social Contract Theorists starting from Socrates, Plato to Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and others. Notably, in his book, The Idea of Justice, Amartya Sen orchestrated Public Reasoning or Democracy as “government by discussion,” which includes “political participation, dialogue and public interaction” (p. 326).

Let me finish with Immanuel Kant as a gentle reminder to the statecraft, “a true system of politics cannot take a single step without first paying tribute to morality.”

Ikhtiar Mohammad is a development researcher at BRAC Research and Evaluation Division.