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British coal company spells disaster for Bangladesh
7 March 2008
The World Development Movement is calling on UK company, Global Coal Management (GCM) to abandon its plans to build an open cast coal mine in Phulbari, North West Bangladesh that campaigners claim will leave people poorer, and threaten food and water security. The plan has already lead to civil unrest.
Zakir Kibria, an activist from Bangladesh said: “The poorest people of Bangladesh will suffer at the hands of a UK corporation who want to mine our land for profit. We do not want this mine.”
More than 40,000 people, including the local indigenous community, will be displaced in a country increasingly short of land. GCM claim they will compensate the legal holders of the land, but the majority of people living in the region are landless farmers, who will receive minimal compensation and for only two years.
Campaigners fear that food and water security will be compromised by the mine, due to an increase in the levels of toxins, including arsenic, in the water supply, which could also affect agricultural land. The mine will also reduce access to water in the area which is likely to affect a further 100,000 people.
Three people were killed during protests in August 2006, when over 20,000 people demonstrated against the mine. Campaigners are concerned that if GCM does not pull out of Bangladesh there will be further unrest.
Murray Benham, head of campaigns at the World Development Movement said: “We are putting pressure on GCM to withdraw from this shameful project immediately. A great deal of damage will be done to people’s lives and the environment if the mine goes ahead. GCM and its shareholders must realise that people should come before profits.”
Over 60 international NGOs, such as Oxfam Australia, ActionAid Pakistan, Greenpeace India and 42 community leaders from the Phulbari area have recently written separate letters to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The ADB is currently considering financing the project with a US$200 million loan. It is due to make its decision in June. Financing the mine contradicts the ADB’s own energy policy, which states that coal mines should only be supported if the coal is for use in the local area, but most of the coal will be exported from Bangladesh.
ENDS
To organise interviews with spokespeople in the UK or Bangladesh call:
Kate Blagojevic
Press officer, World Development Movement
0207 820 4900/4913, 07711 875 345, Email:
Notes to editors
- Shareholders of GCM include RAB Capital, a London based hedge fund, UBS AG, a multinational bank based in Switzerland, Barclays PLC and Credit Suisse.
- GCM operates under the name Asia Energy in Bangladesh
- The World Development Movement is calling for people to email Steve Bywater, chief executive of GCM to demand that he pulls out of the project. The campaign will be launched on Friday 7 March.
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