A subcommittee of the convening committee to conduct a feasibility study and select a site to develop a mining city has selected four potential areas in Dinajpur, an official of the deputy commissioner's office of Dinajpur said.
He said that the subcommittee on site selection has primarily selected four upazilas of the district. Three of the upazilas are Parbatipur, Nawabganj and Birampur. He could not recall the name of the fourth when he was asked about it.
'The convening committee will chose one out of the four options after the feasibility study,' he said.
An energy division official told New Age that the subcommittee had decided develop the mining city in Dinajpur considering the locations of the Barapukuria coal mine, Madhyapara hard rock mine and Phulbari, Dighipara and Khalashpir coal deposits.
Asked about the development of the feasibility study and the site selection, the committee head, Jamal Uddin Ahmed, told New Age that the committee was examining statistics collected from some areas in the district.
'As we have no experience of developing mining cities, we are studying similar experiences of other countries,' he said.
He, however, said that the committee was giving priority to implementing the government's compensation package that included the rehabilitation issue of the people affected by the Barapukuria coal mine.
The government earlier set up the convening committee, headed by the Dinajpur deputy commissioner, to conduct the feasibility study and select the site for the mining city.
The convening committee later at a meeting instituted the sub-committee for the site selection.
The government is working to develop the mining city for uniform development of the coal mines and rehabilitation of the local people affected.
Asked about the definition of the mining city, Jamal said that it was yet to be decided. 'We are looking into options for developing it as a mine-centric economic zone or just a town under the municipality management,' he added.
Tawfiq-E-Elahi Chowdhury, energy adviser to the prime minister, at an inter-ministerial meeting held in the energy division on April 28 instructed to co-opt heads of local schools, colleges and madrassahs, and union council chairmen into the convening committee.
High officials of land, energy and home ministries, including state minister for land, Mostafizur Rahman Fizar, Petrobangla chairman Hossain Mansur, Rangpur divisional commissioner and Dinajpur deputy commissioner attended the meeting on land acquisition and the implementation of the compensation package for the Barapukuria coal mine project. The state minister for power, energy and mineral resources, Enamul Huq, presided over the meeting.
Source: New Age
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